Library op Congress. 




,UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.<OT 



STARK'S 

JAMAICA GUIDE 

(ILLUSTRATED) 



CONTAINING 



A DESCRIPTION OF EVERYTHING RELATING TO 
JAMAICA OF WHICH THE VISITOR OR RESI- 
DENT MAY DESIRE INFORMATION 



INCLUDING 



ITS HISTORY, INHABITANTS, GOVERNMENT, RESOURCES, 
AND PLACES OF INTEREST TO TRAVELLERS 



jhillg[ Blustrateti 

WITH MAPS, ENGRAVINGS, AND PHOTO-PRINTS 



JAMES H. STARK 



BOSTON 

JAMES H. STARK, PUBLISHER 

Equitable Building 

LONDON 
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY, Limited 



Copyright, 1898, 
By JAMES H. STARK 



typography by c. j. petee8 & son, 
Boston. 

Plimpton $resg 

H. M. PLIMPTON & CO., PRINTERS & BINDERS, 
NORWOOD, MASS., U.S.A. 



* 



r 



1 

r 



PREFACE. 



The purpose of the writer in presenting this book 
to the public is to bring to the notice of those unac- 
quainted with Jamaica some of the many attractions 
to be found there, and a brief history and descrip- 
tion of the same. It may be truthfully said that 
there are few spots on the globe more beautiful 
than some parts of this island. The wonderfully 
blue water that washes its shores ; the stretches of 
grass land, alternating with the tropical foliage of 
a vivid green never seen in a northern climate ; the 
background of mountains, whose tops are lost in 
the clouds ; and, over all, a tropical sky with its 
peculiarly soft and voluptuous coloring, — all these 
combine to form a picture of such exquisite loveli- 
ness that they are a revelation to the traveller. 

In compiling this work the author is indebted to 
such works as "Bryan Edwards's History of the 
West Indies," " Government Handbook of Ja- 
maica," "The New Jamaica," "Jamaica at the 
Columbian Exposition," "Tourist Guide to the 



iv PREFACE. 

Island of Jamaica." Also numerous magazines 
and other articles too numerous to mention. 

The author has also, by the aid of maps and 
numerous reproductions of photographs and rare 
prints, been enabled to present the best illustrated 
work on Jamaica ever published. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER. 
I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII. 

VIII. 

IX. 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 
XIII. 

XIV. 
XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 



PAGE. 

The Voyage i 

Discovery and Settlement by the Spaniards . 7 

Conquered and Settled by the English ... 16 

Recent History 31 

Communication and Transportation 41 

Kingston 50 

Library and Museum 60 

Places of Interest in the Vicinity of Kings- 
ton, Castleton Gardens 69 

Newcastle, Gordon Town, and Blue Mountain 

Peak 77 

Port Royal 83 

Cane River, Yallahs,- Morant Bay, Bath and 

Manchioneal 92 

Spanish Town 103 

Mandeville and Montpelier in 

Montego Bay 121 

Moneague, Ocho Rios, Roaring River, and St. 

Ann's Bay 131 

Port Antonio 139 

Agriculture and Climate 152 

The Maroons 165 

Inhabitants and Government . . 180 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Port Royal . Frontispiece 

Travellers' Palm facing page 10 

Map of West Indies " " 4 

Map of Jamaica " " 18 

Llandovey Falls " " 20 

Portrait of Sir Henry Morgan " " 22 

Mango-Tree " " 26 

Bog-Walk Road " " 34 

Tom Cringle's Cotton-Tree " " 4 2 

Market W'omen, Kingston Market " " 4° 

Rio Cobre River " " 48 

Duke Street " " 5° 

Theatre Royal " " 5 2 

Myrtle Bank Hotel " " 54 

Myrtle Bank Garden . . ■ " " 56 

Jubilee Market, Kingston '* " 58 

Map of Kingston " " 60 

Lawes Street " " 62 

Harbor Street " " 66 

St. Ann's Church and Halfway Tree " " 7° 

King's House " " 7 2 

Road to Castleton " " 74 

Castleton Gardens " " 76 

Road to Newcastle " ' " 78 

King's House Garden " " 84 

Earthquake at Port Royal " " 9° 

Sugar-cane Cutters " 94 

Interior of a Sugar Factory " " 96 

Banana Women " " 98 

Shipping Bananas, Port Antonio " " 100 

vii 



Vlll 



ILL USTRA TIONS. 



Rodney's Monument, Spanish Town facing page 104 

Bog Walk .« .< Io6 

Rio Cobre Hotel " << I0 g 

Mandeville " " n 2 

Market, Mandeville " " 114 

Brooks Hotel, Mandeville " " 116 

Montpelier Hotel " " 118 

Montego Bay " " 122 

Lucea • . " "128 

Moneague Hotel • . " " 132 

Falls of Roaring River " " 134 

Port Maria " " 136 

Cocoanut Palms " " 140 

Washing Clothes in the River " " 142 

Port Antonio " " 144 

Harbor of Port Antonio " " 148 

Golden Vale '. " " 150 

Husking Cocoanuts, Port Antonio " " 154 

River Head " " 158 

Matha Brae " " 162 

Attack on Trelawney Town " " 168 

Surrender of the Maroons " " 174 

Maroon Town " " 176 

Ford " " 182 

Stewarts Town " " 186 

Newly arrived Coolies " " 190 



STARK'S 
ILLUSTRATED JAMAICA GUIDE. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE VOYAGE. 



Trips to the Tropics during the winter season 
are being so generally recommended by physi- 
cians, both European and American, and are such 
an attractive and pleasant means of escaping our 
bleak and inclement winters, that the writer has 
been induced to issue this book for travellers wish- 
ing to visit and enjoy the genial climate and superb 
scenery of the fairest of the West India Islands, 
"Jamaica, the Gem of the Antilles." Nowhere 
else so accessible to Americans can be found such 
a delightful tropical winter resort with a summer 
climate. Unquestionably it is the most picturesque 
and attractive island of the West Indian group. 
Lying as it does within the zone of perpetual sum- 
mer, it possesses a climate unsurpassed for genial- 
ity and charm as a winter resort, at a time when 
the icy north bears its most blustering and chilly 
aspect. Jamaica also has a varied and at the 
same time a very equable climate. In the low 



2 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

lands it is tropical, but on the higher lands and 
mountains it is much cooler, almost temperate, 
changing from an average of 78 on the seacoast 
to between 50 and 70 in the mountains ; but it 
differs from our climate in this — there are none 
of those sudden changes which are so trying in 
a northern winter. 

No other island in the West Indies possesses such 
frequent communications with the United States and 
Canada, and at such a moderate cost, as Jamaica, 
on an average one steamer a day leaving Jamaica 
for the American continent. The oldest and best 
line from New York to Kingston is the Atlas line, 
and from Boston to Port Antonio the steamers of 
the Boston Fruit Company. From England the 
principal line is the Royal Mail Steam Packet 
Company. 

The restorative effect of a sea voyage is recog- 
nized so universally that it is not necessary to 
further emphasize it. The drawback to most sea 
voyages is that they are either so short as to lose 
half their salutary effect, or so long as to become 
monotonous and tedious. A trip to Jamaica strikes 
a happy medium. It is also entirely free from 
fog, and the traveller is exempt from the suffering 
so frequently attending voyages upon the storm- 
tossed North Atlantic. The West India trip is 
truly " a voyage upon a summer sea." Leaving 
the snow-clad hills and the icy blasts of a coming 
rigorous winter, the traveller hastens away to the 
home of sunshine and flowers. Like dreams seem 
the last farewell, as he sees over the taffrail be- 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 3 

neath the chill December sun, the fading form of 
the well-beloved shores, and turns his head due 
south to chase the health-giving sunbeams of the 
Tropics. In two days we are traversing summer 
seas, and begin to look up our light summer cloth- 
ing. So far we have probably experienced no 
rough weather, unless we happen to start during a 
northwester ; before us we have the more tranquil 
waters of the South Atlantic and Caribbean Sea. 
Flying-fish begin now to be a source of interest and 
amusement, as they skim from sea to sea, dipping 
their wings ever and anon to plume themselves for 
farther flight. Then we pass through large masses 
of gulf-weed, and think of the memorable day when 
Columbus's ship first plunged her bows into the tan- 
gled ocean meadow now known as the Saragossa 
Sea, and the sailors were ready to mutiny, fearing 
hidden shoals. This gulf-weed probably has its ori- 
gin on the great Bahama banks, and by the great 
ocean river that flows across them is thrust away to 
the northeast, where it lies in a vast eddy or central 
pool ; here it revolves continually, carrying with it 
floating wrecks and debris of every description, at- 
tached to which are whole families of fish, — crabs, 
cuttlefish, and mollusks. 

The first land sighted is Watlings Island, which 
was the first land discovered by Columbus on this 
continent. On a headland, about two hundred 
yards from the beach on which Columbus is sup- 
posed to have landed, a monument has been erected 
to commemorate this great event. It was built by 
the Chicago Herald at the time of the World's 



4 STACK'S ILLUSTRATED 

Fair, held in Chicago to celebrate the four hun- 
dredth anniversary of the discovery of America by 
Columbus. A few hours more bring us to " Bird 
Rock " with its picturesque lighthouse. It is con- 
nected with Crooked Island by a low coral reef. 
This island is one of an extensive group of islands, 
of which Acklin and Fortune Islands are, the 
largest. Many of the Loyalists from the Southern 
colonies settled here after the American Revolution. 
In the course of fifteen years after their arrival 
here there were forty plantations, with about three 
thousand acres of cotton and one thousand negroes. 
Large quantities of cotton were raised here ; but 
the lands gradually wearing out in the absence of 
proper fertilizer, the planters finally abandoned its 
cultivation. 1 

We next come to a low lying island on our left ; 
this is Fortune Island. It is separated from Crooked 
Island by a small channel. The Atlas line steam- 
ers stop here to leave the mails, and to embark 
negroes to assist in discharging cargoes in Central 
American ports. Castle Island, with its lighthouse 
and flourishing cocoanut plantation, presents a very 
picturesque appearance. As mariners pass through 
Crooked Island passage and by the lighthouses, 
they are thankful that the Bahama Islands belong 
to Great Britain, for no other country, except the 
United States, would think of erecting such costly 
structures as these lighthouses are in such a remote 
locality. 

1 For further information concerning these islands see " Stark's History 
and Guide to the Bahamas." 




^GRAVED ^ 



GUAOALOUPE fc-^„ Al ! 
OOMINICAi 



5TARKS GUIDES** WEST INDIES 



MARTINIQUE *•■&. 



:nt vs 



6 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

We do not see land again till we sight Cuba, 
which is about a half a day's run from the Ba- 
hama Islands. The steamer runs quite close to 
Cape Maysi as we round the eastern end of Cuba. 
The lighthouse stands on a low, flat point of land, 
behind which rise the bold, precipitous shores of 
Cuba, rising in a series of terraces and beetling 
cliffs to the mountains, which rear their lofty peaks 
in the background until lost in the fleecy clouds 
that drift about their summits. Then we see in 
the distance on our left the splendid mountains of 
Hayti, the famed turbulent negro republic. We 
are now steaming through Spanish waters, the scene 
of the halting of numerous steamers by the Span- 
ish gunboats that patrol this end of the island, on 
the lookout for filibustering expeditions, and ship- 
ments of arms and supplies to the insurgents. For 
half a day we steam along close to the Cuban shore, 
so near that we can see the trees and plantations 
without the aid of a glass. The mountains of Ja- 
maica now loom up directly ahead, clothed with 
luxuriant verdure from foot to crest, the latter 
showing many sharp outlines and peaks. Viewed 
from any point, Jamaica, as regards scenery and 
verdure, is a magnificent island, and surpassed by 
no island in the world. Its volcanic origin gives 
grandeur and sharpness to the outline of the moun- 
tains which is quite unique. Mountains rise one 
above another, clothed here with the banana and 
cabbage palm, rent there by the fissures caused by 
the floods of the tropical rains ; here rises a bold 
crag, there a wooded hill ; they extend from the 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 7 

seashore to the lofty summits of the Blue Moun- 
tains. The breeze blowing from the land brings 
with it a spicy and aromatic odor as we approach 
the island, and our voyage, so pleasant and won- 
derful, is at an end ; and it is not without a pang 
of regret that we hear the rattle of the chain as it 
spins through the hawse-hole as the anchor plunges 
to the bottom. 



STARK'S 1LLUSTRA TED 



CHAPTER II. 
DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT BY THE SPANIARDS. 

The island of Jamaica was discovered by Co- 
lumbus in 1494. On the 25th of September, 1493, 
Columbus left the Bay of Cadiz on his second voy- 
age of discovery ; and on the 3d of May, 1494, 
while sailing in a southerly direction from Cuba, he 
came in sight of " the blue summit of a vast and 
lofty island at a great distance, which began to 
arise like clouds above the horizon." Two days 
later he anchored in the harbor off the town, now 
known as Port Maria, on the northern coast of Ja- 
maica. Some slight resistance was threatened by 
the Indians who flocked in their canoes around the 
strange Spanish ship ; but they were soon appeased, 
and Columbus anchored in the harbor, which he 
thought the most beautiful of all he had seen, and 
to which he gave the name of " Santa Gloria." 
Leaving his anchorage to seek more sheltered 
waters, he put out to sea, and sailed a few miles in 
a westerly direction to Ora Cabecca, now written 
Oracabessa. The landing was not effected with- 
out opposition and protest on the part of the natives, 
who were treated to a shower of arrows from the 
Spanish crossbows, and terrified into confused flight 
by a huge bloodhound keen to scent human blood. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 9 

On reaching the shore, Columbus, in the name of 
Ferdinand and Isabella, took formal possession 
of his new discovery, which he named Santiago, 
though it has always been known by its Indian 
name of Xaymaca, modernized in spelling and pro- 
nunciation into Jamaica. A few days sufficed to 
repair his ships and to establish friendly intercourse 
with the Indians, and again the voyage was contin- 
ued as far as Montego Bay. 

Two months later he sailed leisurely along the 
southern coast of Jamaica, receiving kindness and 
hospitality from the natives, but making no attempt 
to explore the country. At Old Harbor Bay the 
chief, or cacique, boarded his ship, accompanied by 
many members of his family and staff, and in the 
course of an interesting interview, proposed that 
he himself and all his family should return with 
Columbus to Spain. The offer was courteously 
declined ; and the journey was continued till, on the 
19th of August, Columbus passed out of sight of 
Jamaica to the southeastern extremity of what is 
now known as Morant Point, to which he gave the 
name of Cape Farol. Thus ended the first visit of 
Columbus to Jamaica. 

On the 9th of May, 1502, Columbus started on 
his fourth and last voyage, with a fleet of four ships, 
and crews of a hundred and fifty men. He was 
then sixty-six years of age, and his body bore traces 
of the toil and trouble of a hard life. 

But more trouble was to come, and Jamaica was 
to be the scene of its patient endurance. With the 
details of the earlier portion of the voyage we are 



10 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

not here concerned, and pass on to the 23d of 
June, 1503, when, as he himself wrote, with " his 
people dismayed and down-hearted, almost all his 
anchors lost, and his vessels bored as full of holes 
as a honeycomb," driven by opposing winds and 
currents, Columbus put into Puerto Bueno (Dry 
Harbor). On the following day, failing to find 
either sufficient food or fresh water, he sailed east- 
ward to another harbor, since known as Don Chris- 
topher's Cove. His forlorn and desperate condition 
is thus described by his greatest historian : ' ' His 
ships, reduced to mere wrecks, could no longer 
keep the sea, and were ready to sink even in port. 
He ordered them therefore to be run aground 
within a bow-shot of the shore, and fastened to- 
gether side by side. They soon filled with water 
to the decks. Thatched cabins were then erected 
at the prow and stern for the accommodation of the 
crews, and the wreck was placed in the best possi- 
ble state of defence. Thus castled in the sea, he 
wished to be able to repel any sudden attack of 
the natives, and at the same time to keep his men 
from roving about the neighborhood and indulging 
in their usual excesses. No one was allowed to go 
on shore without especial license, and the utmost 
precaution was taken to prevent any offence being 
given to the Indians. Any exasperation of them 
might be fatal to the Spaniards in their present 
forlorn situation. A firebrand thrown into their 
wooden fortress might wrap it in flames, and leave 
them defenceless amidst hostile thousands." 

Fortunately the natives turned out to be well dis- 



JAMAICA GUIDE. II 

posed to their visitors ; and for a time there was 
little difficulty in obtaining, by exchange of orna- 
ments and other trifles of European manufacture, 
sufficient food to support the shipwrecked crews. 
But the supply was not inexhaustible. The country 
indeed was fertile ; but on the other hand, the popu- 
lation was large, and Columbus's men were both 
hungry and fastidious. Dreading the time when 
the supplies of the district should be exhausted and 
his followers reduced to famine, Columbus deter- 
mined on what we may consider the first explora- 
tion of Jamaica. Diego Mendez, one of the bravest 
and most loyal of his officers, was sent on a foraging 
expedition with three other men. They travelled 
along the coast, and a few miles inland, through the 
present parishes of St. Ann, Trelawny, St. James, 
and Hanover. Friendly terms were made with dif- 
ferent chiefs, — -the names of two of these, Huarco 
and Ameyro, are preserved ; and a regular sup- 
ply of food was guaranteed in exchange for fish- 
hooks, knives, beads, combs, and such like articles. 
The food to be obtained would largely consist of 
cassava bread, fish, birds, and small animals some- 
what resembling rabbits. 

Mendez returned from his mission only to be 
called upon for more important services. The sup- 
ply of provisions was of course an immediate ne- 
cessity ; but the greatest need was that of means to 
get back to Spain, or at any rate to get into com- 
munication with Spaniards who could send ships 
to the rescue of the wrecked mariners. Accord- 
ingly, with a small mixed crew of Spaniards and 



12 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

Indians, Mendez was sent in a canoe to Hispaniola, 
to seek assistance from Ovando, and to continue his 
journey to Spain with despatches from Columbus. 
The first attempt to accomplish his hazardous un- 
dertaking was a failure. Mendez was captured by- 
Indians, and barely escaped with his life, his com- 
panions being put to death. The second attempt 
was successful, but many weary weeks elapsed be- 
fore Columbus heard of its success. In the mean- 
time his troubles rapidly increased. In addition to 
the ordinary infirmities of old age and the effects 
of a life of peril and exposure, he lay helplessly 
crippled with gout on board his stranded ship. His 
men lost faith in him. He had been banished, they 
said, from Spain. His ships had been forbidden 
to anchor in the harbors of Hispaniola. Mendez, 
it was true, had gone ; but he had been sent on 
a secret mission to procure pardon for Columbus, 
who was otherwise exiled for life to Jamaica. If 
he were willing to attempt to escape, his age and 
sickness incapacitated him from risking a voyage in 
an Indian canoe, the only available vessel of trans- 
port. They must take the matters into their own 
hands, and at any rate secure their own personal 
safety. They were beyond doubt ungrateful and 
unreasonable, but men contemplating mutiny take 
little account either of gratitude or of reason. The 
mutiny was headed by two brothers, Francisco and 
Diego de Porras, the former of whom was captain 
of one of the caravels, and the latter occupied the 
position of purser and accountant-general of the 
expedition. It is useless to argue with determined 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 13 

men. Columbus was for a moment in personal 
danger, but his life was saved by the intervention 
of his brother. The mutineers were permitted to 
embark in ten canoes, which had been purchased 
from the Indians. They coasted the north of Ja- 
maica, sailing in a westerly direction, landing here 
and there, pillaging, and outraging, representing 
themselves as acting under the orders of Columbus. 
Two attempts to cross to Hispaniola failed ; and 
the mutineers "wandered from village to village, 
a dissolute and lawless gang, supporting themselves 
by fair means or foul, according as they met with 
kindness or hostility, and passing like a pestilence 
through the island." To return to Columbus, the 
weight of his troubles was daily increasing. No 
news came of or from Mendez ; the supplies of 
provisions began gradually to decrease, until actual 
starvation was within easy reach. Under these cir- 
cumstances it was that Columbus had resort to what 
has since become in fiction, if not in fact, a hack- 
neyed and familiar trick. His knowledge of as- 
tronomy enabled him to predict that an eclipse of 
the moon would take place at a certain hour. This 
eclipse, he represented, was to be a sign that his 
great Deity was angry with the people for not 
continuing to supply him with food. The eclipse 
came ; the Indians were amazed, alarmed, terri- 
fied. Later on, apparently in reply to the prayers 
of Columbus, the moon resumed her wonted func- 
tions, and a plentiful supply of provisions was se- 
cured for the future. 

Months passed before news came from Mendez. 



14 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

At last a ship anchored some distance from the 
shore, and put off a boat. It promised badly for 
Columbus when, as the boat approached his wreck, 
he caught sight of the ill-omened features of Diego 
de Escobar, whom years ago he had condemned 
to death, who had been pardoned by Bobadilla, 
and partly in consequence of whose false and vin- 
dictive evidence Columbus had been displaced from 
his command in 1500. The ill omen proved true ; 
for Escobar's relief consisted of a cask of wine, a 
flitch of bacon, and a letter containing vague prom- 
ises of future succor. The wine and bacon were 
finished long before the promises were kept. Es- 
cobar's functions, in fact, had been those of a spy, 
not of a friend. 

Columbus took advantage of this reopening of 
communications with the outer world to bring back 
into allegiance his rebel followers, who were dis- 
heartened and worn out by the miseries and toils 
of a lawless and predatory life. Most of them 
would long before have willingly returned, but 
they were prevented from doing so by the elder 
Porras. 

A sort of conference was held at the Indian vil- 
lage of Maima, now known as Mammee Bay, — a 
conference which ended in a free fight, in which 
the rebels were defeated, and Francisco de Porras 
was taken prisoner. 

At last suspense was at an end, as two vessels 
were seen entering the harbor, — one sent from 
Spain by the faithful Mendez, and the other from 
Hispaniola by the treacherous Ovando, whose neg- 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 5 

lect of Columbus had so roused public feeling 
against him that he was driven to assume a virtue, 
if he had it not, and to send genuine help to the 
unfortunate discoverer. 

Thus on the 28th of June, 1504, after a visit 
which was almost an imprisonment of upwards of 
twelve months, Columbus left Jamaica. There is 
much that is pathetic about this twelve months' stay 
in Jamaica. It is extremely doubtful whether Co- 
lumbus ever left the shelter of his stranded ships. 
He was an old man when he came ; toil, injustice, 
anxiety, disappointment, had intensified the natural 
infirmities of old age ; gout kept him crippled in 
his cabin ; and, leaving Jamaica, he went home to 
die. 

Coldly received by the people for the pride of 
whose nationality he had done so much, almost 
friendless, poverty-stricken, his health ruined, and 
his spirits crushed, he lingered for two years be- 
fore death mercifully set him free to embark on the 
last and greatest of his voyages. 

Columbus died at Seville on the 20th of May, 
1506, in the seventieth year of his age, not know- 
ing, even to the last, that he was the discoverer of a 
new and vast continent, which was to take its name 
not from him, but from one of his companions. 



1 6 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 



CHAPTER III. 

CONQUERED AND SETTLED BY THE ENGLISH. 

Jamaica, thus discovered and acquired, remained 
in the possession of Spain for upwards of a century 
and a half. It has been said that the transactions 
of the Spaniards during this period, as far as Ja- 
maica is concerned, have scarcely obtained any 
notice in history ; to this may be added, that, when 
the island was added to the British possessions in 
the west, there were few traces that any solid and 
reasonable effort had been made by the first con- 
querors of Jamaica to utilize their opportunity for 
the good of the conquered province. This period 
is mainly memorable for the complete annihilation, 
often by methods pitilessly cruel and revoltingly 
ruthless, of the aboriginal inhabitants of Jamaica, 
of which more will be said in another chapter. 

Turning now from the original inhabitants to the 
first conquerors of Jamaica, the actual remains at 
the present day of the Spanish occupation are almost 
entirely confined to a few names and a few stones. 

The site of the first capital of the island, Sevilla 
Nueva, founded by Diego Columbus, son of the 
discoverer, is marked only by a few stones on the 
estate of Seville, near St. Ann's Bay. In the town 
of Porus we have perpetuated the name of the two 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 7 

brothers Porras, who headed the mutiny against Co- 
lumbus. In the Pedro Plains and the Pedro River 
survives the name of Don Pedro de Esquimel, one 
of the most brutal and cruel of the oppressors of 
the Indians ; and many other names, both of Span- 
ish and of Indian origin, remain, among the latter 
being the name Jamaica itself. The abandonment 
of Sevilla Nueva, for reasons which can only be 
conjectured, led to the settlement and building of 
Spanish Town, or, as it was then called, of St. Jago 
de la Vega ; but the Spanish Town which we now 
know contains few traces, if any, of its original 
buildings. 

The Spaniards themselves seem to have been 
happy and contented. The climate was pleasant 
and unoppressive ; the soil was rich, and yielded 
delicious fruits in abundance. If the Spaniards in 
Jamaica did not make the huge fortunes acquired 
by their countrymen in Cuba or Hayti, or by those 
who settled in the mining districts of Mexico and 
South America, at any rate they were satisfied to 
live a lazy, luxurious, lotos-eating existence, far 
away from the home troubles and turmoils, looking 
on Jamaica rather as their actual than as their 
adopted home. 

In 1590 Sir Anthony Shirley, an Englishman, 
attacked the island and burned St. Jago, the capi- 
tal, but did not choose to follow up his conquest. 
Upon the retirement of the English, the Spaniards 
repaired Spanish Town, and were then unmolested 
by foreign foe till 1635. That year Colonel Jackson 
sailed with a small fleet to the Windward Islands, 



1 8 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

and thence to Jamaica, where, with five hundred 
men, he attacked a garrison of two thousand Span- 
iards at Passage Fort, and after a hot fight, in 
which seven hundred Spaniards are said to have 
been killed, utterly routed the settlers. 

Having visited Spanish Town and extorted ran- 
som, Jackson followed Shirley's example and re- 
tired. But a few years later Jamaica was again 
taken, and this time to remain in possession of the 
English. 

To inquire minutely into all the causes which 
led to the acquisition of Jamaica by Great Britain, 
would necessitate a close review of the relations 
between England and Spain during the first half 
century of the Stuart dynasty. It is enough here 
to state, that James I. and Charles I. had both given 
way too tamely and too timidly to Spanish claims 
and pretensions, and that the honor of England, the 
protection of her commerce, and the safety of her 
subjects, made it imperative on Cromwell's govern- 
ment to protect British interests and lives in the West 
Indies. Accordingly an expedition was equipped 
and armed, and left England in the fall of 1654. 
The general instructions given to the leaders of this 
expedition were " to obtain establishment in that 
part of the West Indies which is possessed by the 
Spaniards." 

A fine fleet was fitted, aboard of which were 
"two thousand old Cavaliers and as many of Oli- 
ver's army." The commanders were Colonel Ven- 
ables and Admiral Penn, the father of William 
Penn, who got one thousand three hundred more 







a 




MIDDLESEX 
SURREY 
CORNWALL 
Total 



ffiffifiU* ^^^^^ 



'^L, 






STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 






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JAMAICA GUIDE. 19 

adventurers at Barbadoes and the Windward Is- 
lands. With such an army, good ships, and able 
officers, they attacked St. Jago, after an unsuccess- 
ful expedition against Hispaniola. In May, 1655, 
St. Jago capitulated to this force, its forts and de- 
fences proving all inadequate against the munitions 
of the invaders. But while parleying and amusing 
the English with fair speeches and presents, the 
Spaniards contrived to remove much of their treas- 
ure from St. Jago ; and the same is supposed by 
treasure seekers and other romantic people to be 
hid to this day in wells and other safe places in the 
neighborhood. 

After the English had gained the city, they were 
afraid of the foe, who still retained possession of the 
country, and greatly harassed them by sudden sor- 
ties and skirmishes. At length, however, the con- 
quest was complete. The last Spanish governor 
fled to Cuba from a point on the north side of Ja- 
maica still known as Runaway Bay. From this 
time British rule was permanently established. 

When Admiral Penn and Colonel Venables re- 
turned to England, they left in charge of the colony 
Colonel D'Oyley, whose command included nearly 
three thousand men and twenty war vessels. D'Oy- 
ley was a brave and excellent leader. It was 
through him that the last remnant of the Spaniards 
was driven from the island. But they left behind 
them a number of slaves, probably of mixed Indian 
and African blood, who, being fierce and warlike, 
took to the mountain fastnesses, and became bandits, 
preying upon the fields, and endangering the per- 



20 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

sons of the new settlers. D'Oyley succeeded in 
subduing them for a time ; but he left a few individ- 
uals, who in later years grew to be powerful, and 
greatly harassed the colony. A remnant of them 
is still left, peacefully enjoying the privileges and 
immunities which they formerly wrested from the 
government. They are known as the Maroons. 

Cromwell fitted a second squadron, and sent Major 
Sedjwick to relieve Colonel D'Oyley. Before Sedj- 
wick's arrival, D'Oyley suppressed a mutiny among 
his men, shooting the ringleaders. 

The new governor lived but a few days after his 
arrival, and the popular Cavalier again resumed the 
direction of affairs. 

Cromwell then appointed Colonel Brayne of Scot- 
land, with orders to colonize one thousand Round- 
heads from Port Patrick to balance the Royalists of 
D'Oyley's party. But Colonel Brayne followed 
Sedjwick, and for the third time D'Oyley ruled. 
He was a wise and energetic leader, governing with 
forethought and prudence. Having been twice 
supplanted by Cromwell because he was a Royal- 
ist, he was finally removed by Charles II. upon his 
accession to the throne to make place for the royal 
favorite, Lord Windsor ; leaving so good a reputa- 
tion, however, that he was long looked upon as the 
best of the governors. 

The new governor did little ; but to quote Charles 
Leslie's venerable history, " In my Lord Windsor's 
government the Island was in a very flourishing 
condition, for by this time the buccaneers had be- 
gun their trade of pyrating and made money -plen- 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 21 

tifal" About this time, too, there were many 
wealthy men who came from other islands to settle 
in Jamaica. Among these was Sir Thomas Mod- 
diford, afterwards governor. 

Sir Charles Littleton followed Windsor, the latter 
being removed finally at the earnest protest of the 
Spaniards, who complained bitterly of the part he 
took in protecting the pirates. Under Littleton the 
first concessions were made to the Maroons, grants 
of land and magisterial power being given to Juan 
de Bolas, their leader. The governor also issued 
writs for the first general assembly held upon the 
island. 

Members were returned from twelve districts, and 
met at Santiago de la Vega (now Spanish Town), 
where they indulged in great conviviality, if we 
may trust the older histories. 

This first assembly was dissolved by Deputy Gov- 
ernor Sir Edward Morgan. Following him came 
Moddiford, whose rule, says one of the chronicles, 
"brought the Island to its greatest perfection." 
The population was then 17,298 inhabitants. Money 
was plenty, immigration increased, and affairs were 
generally in a prosperous condition. Writs were 
issued for a new council, which proved to be rather 
combative in its temper than deliberative. One of 
its members murdered another at a state dinner. 

While the assembly were quarrelling, the gover- 
nor, on his own responsibility, was amusing him- 
self by granting commissions and letters of marque 
to the pirates who already swarmed the Spanish 
Main. These were to annoy the fleets of Spain. 



22 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

No chapter in the world's annals presents more 
appropriate material for modern melodrama than 
the lives of the buccaneers. 

Bartholomew, a Portuguese, was the first bucca- 
neer of note, and achieved some brilliant successes, 
but was soon overshadowed by others. BrafilianO, 
a Dutchman, took some valuable prizes, and greatly- 
harassed the Spaniards. Lewis Scott was the first 
to land a force on Spanish territory, and engage in 
terrestrial warfare, one of his acts being the sack 
of Campeche. Mansvelt took the Island of St. 
Catharine, and wanted to hold it under colonial 
protection as a pirate rendezvous. He extorted a 
great ransom. The redoubtable John Davis carried 
fire and sword into Nicaragua and St. Augustine, 
retiring with immense booty. But the greatest of 
all the buccaneers was Henry Morgan. The son 
of a poor Welsh farmer, sold into servitude in Bar- 
badoes, and serving his term of slavery as a laborer, 
he impressed upon his time a romantic enthusiasm 
for his deeds and personality. Although greatly 
admired and copied by other privateers, Morgan is 
said by his biographers to have been unlike them, 
though in what the dissimilarity consisted we of a 
later day may be too dull to discover. 

By his followers were committed cruelties unex- 
ampled ; yet he is spoken of as being on a moral 
plane far above such men as Mansvelt, with whom, 
by the way, he sailed as vice-admiral in the latter's 
successful expedition against St. Catharine. Mor- 
gan, upon the death of Mansvelt, became the great 
pirate leader. He never sailed without a commis- 




This portrait was reproduced from a work published in London 
in 1C84, by John Esquemeling, one of the Buccaneers. 



24 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

sion, however ; and so over his colossal barbarities 
was thrown the cloak of authority, and expeditions 
for pillage and rapine were dignified as naval en- 
counters and invasions. 

In 1670, with an army of twelve hundred men 
and a numerous fleet, he attacked the town of Pan- 
ama, then very rich, was victorious over the army 
that was sent against him, and secured one hun- 
dred and seventy-five mule loads of precious metal. 
Of this plunder his crew received only two hundred 
pieces of eight each, and mutinied ; whereupon this 
intrepid leader stole away with treasure to the value 
of £25,000. 

The immense wealth at this period brought into 
Port Royal, the thousands of freebooters whose 
money, bought with blood, was spent in crime, the 
cargoes of merchant fleets brought to its stalls, and 
the ransom of provinces paid into its coffers, made 
this city enormously wealthy. Its state was bar- 
baric, but splendid. No form of vice was wanting, 
no indulgence too extravagant for its lawless popu- 
lation. 

One of the curious contradictions of history oc- 
curred about here. Sir Thomas Moddiford was 
relieved, and sailed for England as a prisoner, to 
answer for the offence of exceeding his authority 
in commissioning Morgan. About the same time 
Morgan was knighted for his victory at Panama, 
and was thereafter known as Sir Henry Morgan, 
the wealthy planter, the foe of the pirates, and the 
friend to law and order. 

Six years later Morgan, as lieutenant-governor, 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 2$ 

assumed control of Jamaica's affairs, and was ex- 
ceedingly popular. 

Over a thousand Dutchmen immigrated from 
Surinam in South America to the island in 1672. 
They were of industrious habits, and added to the 
colony's prosperity. A general awakening to in- 
dustry resulted in the first shipment of sugar to 
England, the beginning of a trade which was for 
years the fruitful source of wealth to the colony, 
and which a century later brought Jamaica to the 
zenith of her prosperity. 

The final crushing of the pirates, and the un- 
popularity consequent upon the financial depression 
which followed, belonged to Lord Vaughn, who 
recalled the buccaneers' commissions, and hung a 
great many of these marauders, thus effectually 
suppressing the dreadful business. It was at that 
time that the Royal African Company gained their 
charter, which gave them every advantage upon the 
high seas, so that the Jamaica slave-trade was seri- 
ously interfered with, and the price of human flesh 
rose enormously. 

In 1678 the Earl of Carlisle summoned a new 
assembly. Both he and his successors were per- 
petually in hot water, standing often between the 
colony and the mother country on questions of 
financial policy principally. 

When the Duke of Albemarle came, he estab- 
lished a claim to historic mention by bringing with 
him a great man, Sir Hans Sloane, the naturalist. 
The work of this extraordinary person, though 
accomplished before the discovery of our modern 



26 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

system of classification in natural history, was of 
immense benefit to science, and stands to-day a 
monument and a landmark in the history of moral 
degradation, intellectual barrenness, political errors, 
and mercantile obliquity. 

The flight of James II., and the accession of 
William and Mary to the throne of England, in- 
tensified for a time the political differences, which 
never were allowed to die. Certain acts, inimical 
it was claimed to the interests of Jamaica, were 
repealed, and the constitution restored, which had 
been changed in Albemarle's time. To give the 
details of the perpetual wrangling which agitated 
Jamaica's rulers year after year would be neither 
interesting nor instructive. 

The Earl of Inchequin, who took charge in 1690, 
varied the usual order of quarrel by sending the 
war-ships Severn and Guernsey to retaliate upon 
the French, who had been annoying the seacoast 
inhabitants of the island. These vessels took val- 
uable prizes in Hispaniola. But Inchequin did not 
live to enjoy the prestige which such success usu- 
ally brings. 

We now come to one of the most memorable 
events in Jamaican annals. On the 7th of June, 
1692, a great earthquake shook the island, and al- 
most totally destroyed the metropolis. Mountains 
were riven ; earth and rock fell upon the valleys, 
burying the people ; hamlets were ingulfed ; planta- 
tions obliterated ; and rivers turned into new chan- 
nels. 

The terrible retribution that overtook Port Royal 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 2J 

in three or four brief minutes of time can be only 
compared in magnitude to the unexampled record 
of her debauchery. It was a disaster which in a 
moment transformed the richest spot on earth to 
the poorest. Even Lisbon's fate could not com- 
pare with the complete overthrow of the Jamaican 
capital. Leslie says: ''At the Time when the 
Island was full of Gay Hopes, Wallowing in 
Riches, and Abandoned to Wickedness, the most 
dreadful Calamity befel it that ever happened to a 
people, and which many look upon as a tremen- 
dous judgment of the Almighty. On the 7th of 
June, 1692, one of the most violent earthquakes 
happened that perhaps was ever felt. It began be- 
tween 11 and 12 o'clock at noon, shook down and 
drowned nine-tenths of Port Royal in two minutes 
time ; all the wharves of Port Royal sunk at once. 
There were soon several Fathoms of Water where 
the Streets stood ; and that one which suffered the 
least Damage was so overflowed that the Water 
swelled as high as the Upper Rooms of the Houses." 
Added to all the other horrors, the unburied dead 
which lay in heaps upon the land or floated in shoals 
in the harbor became in a little while, under the 
tropic sun, horrible masses of putrefaction ; generat- 
ing a pestilence from which thousands of those who 
had survived the earthquake died. 

The overthrow of Port Royal led to the estab- 
lishment of the city of Kingston, on the Liguanea 
Plain, upon property belonging to Colonel, after- 
wards Sir William, Beeston. The city was laid out 
by Sir Christian Lilly, of the Royal Engineers. 



28 STARK 'S ILL USTRA TED 

Shortly after these events Beeston assumed the 
government (in 1693) . It was then that the French 
were peculiarly active and annoying. They had 
burned plantations in Jamaica, and taken away 
slaves to the value of £65,000. The colonial militia 
finally succeeded in defeating these invaders on the 
land, driving them back to their ships with loss ; 
but on the water the French were victorious-, and 
the great English Admiral, Benbow, was defeated, 
dying from his wounds in Kingston shortly after- 
wards. 

During several administrations the usual succes- 
sion of legislative troubles engaged the attention of 
the governors. The picaroons from Cuba created 
a diversion in the time of Sir Nicholas Lawes, by 
committing many depredations ; and the embarrass- 
ment thus caused to agriculture was further aug- 
mented by a hurricane, which destroyed both lives 
and property. Yet the government could hardly 
leave its wrangling over the question of a perma- 
nent revenue-bill long enough to take proper meas- 
ures for the relief of the sufferers. 

Then followed a ruler whose course of conduct, 
being in marked contrast to those who had pre- 
ceded him, demands recognition. Major-General 
Robert Hunter, learning that he was about to re- 
ceive the appointment to Jamaica, actually took 
pains to inform himself of the condition of the 
country and people to which he was going ; and so 
effectually presented their case and cause to their 
Majesties' ministers as to win certain concessions 
for them. The Jamaica assembly, feeling that the 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 29 

country had a friend in the new governor, promptly- 
passed the much discussed bill, granting a perma- 
nent revenue of £8,000 per annum to the crown ; 
receiving in return the confirmation of their laws 
for which they had been fighting. Besides this, 
the governor's salary was increased from £5,000 
to £6,000 as a token of gratitude for his services, 
at which sum it has remained to the present time. 

In 1 739 the war between England and Spain called 
out a volunteer force from Jamaica to assist against 
the South American ports. The expedition in which 
they engaged led to the surrender of the Spanish 
American towns of Chagres and Porto Bello. 

During Trelawney's administration in 1744, an ~ 
other earthquake shook Port Royal, and a great hur- 
ricane and tidal wave swept Savana la Mar, so that 
the place, people, houses, and cattle were utterly 
destroyed. 

Governor Knowls, in 1751, was burned in effigy 
for some differences with the House. In 1760 a 
slave insurrection broke out in the parish of St. 
Mary ; whole families of white planters were butch- 
ered by the insurgents ; and it was only after a bat- 
tle in which four hundred of them were killed, that 
peace was restored. The ringleaders were shot or 
hung in chains, and many of the others transported. 

In 1762 Governor Lyttleton brought news of an- 
other war between Spain and England. An expe- 
dition sent against Havana was successful, and the 
city capitulated. Besides this victory, the capture 
of twelve ships of the line and a fleet of merchant- 
men swelled the amount of booty to £2,000,000, 
and made Jamaica rich once more. 



30 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

In the time of Elletson, who succeeded Lyttleton, 
another negro outbreak occurred in Hanover and 
Westmoreland ; it was stamped out, and thirty ring- 
leaders were hanged. Soon after this the political 
world was agitated over the American War for In- 
dependence, the recognition of the United States by 
France, and the consequent war between that coun- 
try and Great Britain. Martial law was proclaimed 
in Jamaica, and the principal ports of the island 
were fortified. Nelson, who was then commander 
of Fort Charles, volunteered in an expedition against 
Nicaragua, and nearly lost his life. Admiral Rod- 
ney, Jamaica's best loved hero, won a great victory 
over the French Admiral, De Grasse ; saving the 
island from a troublesome foe, and winning for 
himself the thanks of his sovereign and his eleva- 
tion to a peerage. Rodney's statue, by John Bacon, 
now occupies a prominent position in the public 
square at Spanish Town. 

Following these troublesome times Jamaica was 
plagued with famine and swept with hurricanes for 
the space of several years. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 3 1 



CHAPTER IV. 

RECENT HISTORY. 

During the eighteenth century the population of 
the island had greatly increased ; and, as towards the 
close of the seventeenth, the great wealth brought by 
the buccaneers had given a dazzling, though tem- 
porary and fictitious, prosperity to Jamaica ; so the 
closing decades of the eighteenth saw this wealth 
and luxury repeated upon the apparently more staple 
foundation of agriculture and commerce. 

In spite of legislative brawls, the dangers result- 
ing from an isolated, almost defenceless condition, 
the "Gem of the Antilles" was enjoying her age of 
gold at the commencement of the present century. 

During the eighteenth century the importation of 
human cattle from Africa reached six hundred thou- 
sand souls. The mortality among them must have 
been very great ; for in spite of their natural ten- 
dency to increase, the close of the slave-trade found 
barely half that number on the island. Bryan Ed- 
wards says : " It appears to me that the British slave- 
trade had attained its highest pitch of prosperity a 
short time before the American war " (the War for 
Independence is referred to) . The number of ships 
that sailed from England to the coast, engaged in 
the nefarious business of slave-trading, in I77 1 was 



32 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

196 ; and the total number taken to British colonies 
in that year (of which Jamaica took the lion's share) 
was 47,146. The treatment these poor creatures 
received at the hands of their masters was often 
brutal, and nearly always, to state it mildly, un- 
sympathetic. This will be referred to later on as 
one of the potent causes of difficulty between the 
different classes of the population. 

A mutiny among the troops occurred during Wil- 
liam, Duke of Manchester's administration of the 
government, and troubles multiplied. Wars inter- 
fered with commerce, storms devastated the plan- 
tations, and the agitation over the slave question 
became more and more violent. 

The bitter feeling of the planters against the Im- 
perial Government on account of the slave question 
resulted in a threat to unite with the United States. 
The excitement spread to the slaves. An outbreak 
and bloodshed was the result, and martial law was 
proclaimed. During the Earl of Musgrave's rule, 
the colony denied the right of the Imperial Govern- 
ment to legislate for Jamaica. A long controversy 
ensued, resulting in the passing of the Emancipation 
Act, which provided that, "• From and after the 1st of 
August, 1834, all the slaves in the colonial posses- 
sion of Great Britain should be forever free, but 
subject to an intermediate state of six years appren- 
ticeship for prasdials, and four years for domestics." 

In 1838 and 1840 the negroes of Jamaica, through 
the exertions of the venerated Wilberforce and 
others, became freedmen. In the early years of 
one of the greatest reigns that England has known, 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 33 

this attempt was made to right a great wrong. In 
the fifty years that had intervened, the experiment 
has been working, at first very slowly because of 
dense ignorance and great misunderstanding on 
both sides, but latterly more rapidly toward its legi- 
timate conclusion. 

Emancipation found the planters in a pitiable con- 
dition financially. The majority were debtors to 
English houses. The £55853,975 sterling awarded 
as compensation for the loss of their human prop- 
erty, insufficient as the sum was, went for the most 
part into the hands of their creditors. They were 
left without resources, with over-worked estates, 
antiquated machinery, scarcity of labor, and a poor 
market. 

Lord Sligo, who arrived in 1835, found his part 
in an impoverished country a thankless one. He 
soon gave place to Sir Charles Metcalfe, who suc- 
ceeded in restoring peace between Jamaica and the 
mother country. He retired in 1842. 

During these years further misfortunes visited 
the planters. In slavery times the English Govern- 
ment, by heavy differential duty on foreign sugar, 
protected Jamaica. But the adoption of a free-trade 
policy a few years after the emancipation reduced 
the price of sugar one-half to the English customer, 
and made the planter's profit correspondingly lighter 
at a time when he could ill afford any diminution 
of income. Abolition had cut down the labor sup- 
ply. Free trade had further diminished the chance 
for profit in sugar-growing. Estates were heavily 
mortgaged, and many were abandoned. 



34 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

The history of the colony from this time on to 
the outbreak of 1865 consists of little else beyond a 
series of political disputes and disagreements be- 
tween the Executive and the Legislature, accom- 
panied with a bitterness which could not fail to 
have a disastrous result on the well-being of the 
country. When Sir Charles Metcalfe was governor, 
it is true, much was done to reconcile these differ- 
ences : he succeeded in restoring the affection for 
the mother country, which, in the case of a large 
number of colonists, had been alienated by recent 
events ; and he left the colony, after passing a num- 
ber of useful laws, greatly regretted by all. He 
was succeeded by Lord Elgin, during whose admin- 
istration much was done to improve the general 
condition of the island. Coolie immigration was 
commenced, new breeds of cattle were introduced, 
and the Jamaica railway was opened. 

In 1865, while Mr. Edward John Eyre was gov- 
ernor of Jamaica, a storm which had been long 
gathering burst upon the island in the shape of a 
negro uprising, which will be more fully described 
elsewhere in this work. 

The year of the insurrection, financial affairs 
were at their lowest ebb. In September, less than 
a month before the outbreak, the colonial treasury 
showed a deficit of about £80,000 ; and this was 
followed by unusual expenses due to that affair. 
To cover this a rum-duty, house-tax, and various 
tariff burdens were imposed. Trade licenses were 
required to be purchased by those engaged in cer- 
tain branches of business. The result of these 



c 

Q 




JAMAICA GUIDE. 35 

necessary enactments was a temporary revival of 
the treasury. Three years after Governor Eyre's 
departure, there was a surplus of £5,599. 

The year 1868 should be a red-letter one in Ja- 
maican annals. It was the turn of the tide, the 
dawning that came after the darkest night, the year 
of the first surplus, the year of the first fruit-ship- 
ment from Port Antonio, of the revival of coolie 
immigration, of the first cinchona-planting on the 
Blue Mountains. 

Sir Peter Grant was then governor. Through- 
out the whole of his administration of government, 
there was an annual surplus in the treasury. Re- 
porting on the financial situation in 1871-1872, he 
says : "The continuing surplus accrues from no 
increase of taxation, and is in the face of a large 
expenditure on public works of utility and impor- 
tance, of a largely increasing expenditure on such 
departments as those of education and agriculture, 
and of some increase of expenditure in those admin- 
istrative and revenue departments which necessarily 
require development as the population and wealth 
of the colony become developed." About the time 
that the report just quoted from was written, the 
import duty levied in the early part of 1868 was re- 
moved, and certain tonnage dues and taxes on live 
stock taken away. 

187 1 saw the disestablishment of the Church of 
England, the repeal of the granting power to the 
governor to proclaim martial law in times of insur- 
rection, and the taking of the census. The popu- 
lation was then estimated at 506,154. The seat of 



36 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

government was at this time removed from Spanish 
Town to Kingston, a move which was decidedly 
against the experience of nations, and could hardly 
be defended on the plea of convenience. Not only 
were the commodious buildings and government 
property abandoned, and allowed to go to decay, 
but the defence of a retired position, the advantage 
of comparative isolation from the centre of business 
activity, and the value of historic association, were 
alike given up for a position of small advantage to 
the routine of public work, whatever benefit it might 
be to the merchant or professional man. 

Sir J. P. Grant had an opportunity to test the 
value of an island statute, relating to the confisca- 
tion of munitions of war landed in Jamaica. 

The La Have, cleared for Kingston and loaded 
with arms, was captured by a Spanish man-of-war, 
and brought to Jamaica, where the cargo was duly 
seized. The owners brought suit for £33,000 
against the governor, who found himself so hard 
pushed that he was fain to compromise for £7,920, 
giving his note therefor. The colonial council re- 
deemed the note, and the Imperial Government 
finally refunded the money. 

Sir William Gray superseded Sir J. P. Grant in 
1874, an d ruled till 1877. Though these years 
were disastrous in many respects, being marked 
by drought, floods, destruction of roads, and the 
small-pox, besides a financial crisis in which sev- 
eral prominent houses went under, yet there was 
also the establishment of the Kingston street-cars, 
and the completion of the Rio Cobre irrigation 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 37 

canal, a work of which it would be difficult to over- 
estimate the value. 

Lieutenant-Governor Rushworth succeeded Sir 
William Gray in the management of the govern- 
ment, 1877. Kingston was lighted with gas that 
year ; Jamaica was admitted to the postal union ; and 
the commission to inquire into the condition of the 
juvenile population appointed, with results decidedly 
beneficial, as it led to the establishment of the sys- 
tem of education now operative, besides calling at- 
tention to certain other necessary reforms. Before 
the end of the year the lieutenant-governor died, 
and Sir Anthony Musgrave succeeded him. At 
the beginning of his administration financial affairs 
were not in good shape. The transfer of a large 
immigration debt, together with hospital and other 
expenses, added to a deficit for 1878 of £2,683, 
burdened the treasury. To meet the exigency, the 
governor recommended that the poll-tax on cattle, 
removed seven years before, should be reimposed, 
and a loan raised. This was enacted ; and thus 
began an administration, which, while not always 
brilliantly successful financially, was still marked 
not only by the adoption of some necessary ex- 
pedients in raising the revenue, but by a generally 
wise and enlightened policy, and the institution of 
a number of public works and reforms by which 
the island is still benefited. 

A reduction in the expenditure on public works 
during the first year enabled the treasurer to report 
a surplus, but the new loan remained as an addition 
to the public debt. But afterwards the measures 



38 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

already alluded to were carried through with judg- 
ment and vigor. 

The railway and telegraph facilities now enjoyed 
by the island are due to Governor Musgrave, as is 
also its cable communication with the rest of the 
world. The judicial system was improved, and the 
consolidation of the superior courts accomplished. 
The Victoria Institute, for the promotion of litera- 
ture, science, and art, was established. The cin- 
chona plantations were laid out in St. Andrews ; 
and an annual scholarship founded in Kingston, 
which made possible to the holder admission to 
either of the English universities. Besides these 
things, a change in administration of the high 
school, and in the efficiency of the teachers' train- 
ing-schools, was inaugurated. In 1879 a new mar- 
riage-law was passed, making civil marriages legal. 

Nature, during this administration, did not act as 
the supporter of the governor and his council in the 
efforts for the advancement of Jamaican interests. 
The great Kingston fire, floods, a drought, a cy- 
clone, earthquakes, and other calamities caused con- 
siderable distress, some loss of life, and injury to 
commerce. By wise management much of the ill 
effect of these things was averted, however. 

The Kingston fire just referred to occurred in 
188 1, on the nth of December. It swept over the 
town, destroying property to the value of £150,000. 
Great distress was occasioned, but the temporary 
injury was more than balanced by subsequent im- 
provement. 

The retirement of Governor Musgrave was the 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 39 

cause of sincere regret on the part of the people of 
Jamaica, who recognized his wisdom, and appre- 
ciated the earnestness of his efforts for their ad- 
vantage. 

Major-General Gamble succeeded him as gov- 
ernor in 1883. During his administration, promises 
were made by the crown that constitutional changes 
should be made for Jamaica, and that the charter 
surrendered during Governor Eyre's administration 
should be restored in a modified form. 

These promises were carried into effect in 1884, 
while Sir Henry Wylie Norman was at the head of 
affairs. On June 20 of that year an order in coun- 
cil by her Majesty was issued, reconstituting the 
Legislative Council of Jamaica. On Jan. 2, 1889, 
Sir Henry Norman left the island amid demonstra- 
tions of esteem and regard from the inhabitants of 
Kingston and surrounding districts. 

Sir Henry Arthur Blake, late governor of the Ba- 
hama Islands, was the next governor. His Excel- 
lency, accompanied by his accomplished wife Lady 
Blake, and family, arrived on the 9th of March 1889, 
and was received with a loyal and hearty welcome. 
Many important undertakings and enterprises have 
been carried through to a successful issue during 
Governor Blake's administration, notably the exten- 
sion of the railway to all parts of the island, the 
construction of roads, an underground system of 
drainage for Kingston, and the construction of ho- 
tels in various parts of the island on the American 
plan. One of the most important events of his 
administration was his initiating a movement for the 



40 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

holding of an Exhibition in Jamaica, illustrative of 
the natural products and manufactures of the island. 
On Jan. 27, 1891, the Exhibition was opened by 
H. R. H. Prince George of Wales, who commanded 
H. M. S. Thrush, one of the ships of the visiting 
squadron. The Exhibition remained open until 
May 2. It was the means of bringing Jamaica to 
the notice of the outside world, and went far to 
remove the erroneous impression as to the climate 
of the island. Financially it met the usual fate of 
Exhibitions, it failed to pay; and the guarantors 
and General Revenue were called upon to make up 
the deficiency. 

During the latter part of 1892 and the earlier 
months of 1893, one of the results of the Exhibition 
was seen in the visits to the island of tourist steam- 
ers, which have been coming in increasing numbers 
every winter since. 

Events more recent than those which we have so 
briefly noticed are not yet history, and will be 
treated in future editions of this work. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 4* 



CHAPTER V. 

COMMUNICATION AND TRANSPORTATION. 

To a person going to Jamaica, the first question 
that naturally arises is, " How shall we get there? " 
Therefore it comes naturally within the scope of 
this work to publish minute information regarding 
the means provided between England and Jamaica 
and the American continent, and also the means of 
transportation on the island when arrived there. 

The first steamers to go to Jamaica were the Royal 
Mail Company's, who began their contract with the 
British Government in April, 1842, for carrying the 
West India mail, of which they enjoyed a monopoly 
for twenty years. Under the present mail contract 
with the Imperial Government the transatlantic 
mail steamers of the Royal Mail Steam Packet 
Company are despatched from Southampton to the 
West Indies every alternate Wednesday, going di- 
rect to Barbados, where they are due on the second 
Monday after leaving Southampton ; thence by 
branch steamer to Jamaica, where they are due on 
the following Friday at 7 a.m. The homeward 
steamers leave Kingston on every alternate Tues- 
day at 2 p. m., and are due at Plymouth on every 
alternate Wednesday at 9 p.m. Saloon fares be- 
tween Southampton and Kingston, £25 and £35* 



42 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

according to position of cabin. Return tickets 
available for twelve months, £40 and £56. 

Besides this line of steamers, there is the West 
India and Pacific Steamship Company (Limited). 
The steamers of this line leave Liverpool for Kings- 
ton, via St. Thomas and Colon, every fourth Thurs- 
day ; average time from Liverpool, twenty days. 
Saloon fare, £20. 

The most frequent, direct, and cheapest way to 
reach Jamaica from England is by way of the Ley- 
land Line from Liverpool to Boston ; thence by the 
Boston Fruit Company's steamer to Port Antonio. 
These steamers sail weekly, and can make the trip 
in about two weeks' time. 

Connections can also be made in New York, via 
the Allan and Anchor Line to Glasgow. Single 
saloon fare, £23 105., and return ticket, £43 155. 
Through tickets can be procured of this line avail- 
able on all the principal European steamers sailing 
from New York. 

The Caribbean Line is the only direct line run- 
ning between London and Jamaica. Steamers leave 
London once a month. 

The Prince Line sails from Antwerp and Glas- 
gow to Jamaica once a month. 

There are steamers departing from Jamaica for 
the United States almost daily. No other island in 
the West Indies has such frequent communication, 
good service, and low rates for passage. The prin- 
cipal line running to New York is the Atlas Line, 
which flies the familiar blue flag with its white 
centred cross. This line comprises nine steamers, 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 43 

fitted up specially for the conveyance of passen- 
gers ; the accommodations are of the best descrip- 
tion, and the steamers are furnished with every 
requisite for making their trips safely and agreeably. 

As regards the table, the passengers are supplied 
with all the delicacies of the season and everything 
that might be necessary on a voyage. A trip to 
Jamaica by this line takes five and a half days ; the 
boat leaves New York every Saturday for Kings- 
ton, Hayti, and Central American ports. Fare to 
Kingston, $50, or $80 excursion. 

The Boston Fruit Company have now in their 
service sixteen steamers running between Port An- 
tonio and Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Bal- 
timore ; the Beverly and Belvidere have just been 
built, and are on the Boston line. They are like 
yachts in all their appointments, and are very fast. 
The staterooms are forward of the engines on the 
main deck, and removed from the noise of the pro- 
peller and smell of the engines, and are especially 
well ventilated, of ample dimensions, and lighted 
by electricity. Steamers are provided with stewards 
and stewardess. The table service is good, and is 
well spoken of by passengers. Gentlemen are pro- 
vided with a smoking-room on the main deck. As 
these steamers carry only fruit, there is no offen- 
sive smell from the cargo ; this, together with the 
advantage of having the saloon on deck, is appre- 
ciated by passengers subject to seasickness. 

The passage to Jamaica is $40, or $75 for the 
round trip. Steamers leave Boston every Wednes- 
day, and sometimes twice a week ; the run to Port 



44 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

Antonio is made in less than five days. The Boston 
Fruit Company sends on an average one steamer 
a day to the United States. 

Pickford and Black's West India Steamship Line 
sends a steamer with good passenger accommoda- 
tions once a month to Jamaica. The steamer leaves 
Halifax on the fifteenth of the month, Bermuda on 
the twentieth, and Turk's Island on the twenty-ninth, 
arriving at Kingston the twenty-third of the month. 
Fare, single ticket, £12 105. ; return, £20 155. 

The Tweedie Trading Company leaves New 
York every fortnight for Kingston and Central 
American ports. Passage to Jamaica, $50, and $80 
for the round trip. 

TRAVELLING IN JAMAICA. 

Travelling in Jamaica is easy and safe. The 
government has constructed good roads throughout 
the island ; and the railway system, now one hun- 
dred and eighty-five miles in extent, reaches nearly 
all the important centres of population, traversing 
as it does, or at least touching, nine out of the four- 
teen parishes. It was in the year 1843 that the 
Jamaica Railway Company was incorporated. The 
line was opened for traffic in November of that year. 
It was at first only operated as far as "The Angels," 
near Spanish Town, a distance of fourteen miles 
from Kingston, at a cost of £222,250. It had but 
one track, and went through a level country. From 
then to 1867 work was virtually at a standstill ; it 
was too expensive to carry it through the moun- 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 45 

tains. Then an extension from Spanish Town to 
Old Harbor Market was carried through at an ex- 
pense of £60,000, being opened to the public in 
July, 1869. After the opening of the extension the 
business of the company gradually increased, till in 
1875 ^s revenue reached the sum of £24,200, a 
gain of £13,478 in six years. In 1877 Sir Anthony 
Musgrave interested himself in the affairs of the 
railway, and effected the purchase of the road by 
the Government. At that time the capital repre- 
sented was £267,250. The permanent way was re- 
laid and ballasted ; water-ways and conduits were 
opened to drain those parts of the road which 
were apt to be submerged ; twenty-eight bridges 
were built, and general improvements carried on 
all along the line ; which with stations, walls, cul- 
verts, and numerous other additions amounted to 
£107,260. This, with the purchase, cost £201,192. 

The next move was the extension to Porus in 
Manchester. On the 2d of May, 1885, the exten- 
sion was open to traffic, at a cost of £280,924. In 
1888 a report was made on the proposed extension 
of the road from Bog Walk through Annotto Bay 
to Port Antonio. The length of the proposed line 
was fifty-five miles, and the estimated cost, £723,- 
072, or an average of £13,206 per mile. An ex- 
tension was also proposed from Porus to Montego 
Bay, a distance of sixty-five miles, at an estimated 
cost of £832,399, an average of £12,893 per mile. 

Pending the action of the Legislature on the 
scheme of carrying out these extensions by the Gov- 
ernment, a proposal was made by Mr. Frederick 



46 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

Wesson and other American capitalists for the pur- 
chase of the railway. It was sold to them for £100,- 
ooo cash and £700,000 secured by second-mortgage 
bonds on the railroad at four per cent interest. The 
company pledged itself to extend the line as pro- 
jected, and was empowered to issue bonds to the 
extent of £320,000, and to make further issues 
£200,000 on the completion of each twenty-five 
miles of extension till the full amount £1,500,000 
was reached. The transfer of the line was made 
Jan. 4, 1890. In 1894 the Montego section was 
completed, and work commenced on the Port An- 
tonio part, which was finished in 1896. 

At the Kingston station the visitor is at once 
struck with the unique character of the place and 
the people, especially the latter. The train-shed 
into which the station building proper opens is about 
three hundred feet long, and wide enough to admit 
several trains abreast. Beyond this structure are 
the shops, engine-houses, etc. The cars drawn up 
to the platform are built mostly upon the American 
plan. Under the former management they were 
built upon the English pattern, divided into traverse 
apartments ; some of these are still in use. In 
place of the various phases of English or American 
life, we find here a mixed assortment of humanity, 
with great contrasts of color, character, creed, and 
costume. The white of position, with the visitor 
from Europe or the American continent, takes his 
place in a first-class carriage. There are colored 
people, black people, white people ; there are faces 
that show Castilian origin, others of a Caledonian 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 47 

cast ; many that are browned by more than exposure 
to a tropic sun. Here is the bare-armed, brace- 
letted, long black-haired coolie woman, with her 
babe wrapped in the gaudy shawl that is thrown 
half around the mother's head, half over her shoul- 
der. Her wealth is apparent to the eyes ; for she 
carries it where all may see, displayed upon her 
wrists, forehead, breast, ankles, in fact, anywhere 
that there is a chance to place a hoop or a bangle. 
Then there are others, — black and white soldiers, 
the negro dressed in Zouave uniform, negro market 
women with large bundles on their heads, news- 
boys and porters. These all speak a language that 
they pretend to be English, but which is impossible 
for the stranger to at once understand. 

After passing the suburbs of the city, among the 
first things to attract attention are the extensive 
stock-yards, or pens as they are called here. Many 
of these stock-farms were once sugar plantations ; 
but the low price of sugar, and the difficulty of ob- 
taining sufficient labor after the abolition of slavery, 
led to their abandonment. The largest of these is 
the Cumberland Pen, one of the largest properties 
on the island, where great herds of horses and cattle 
are bred and grazed. This pen embraces a good 
race-course, and its turf events are always looked 
forward to with interest by both natives and visitors. 

For fifteen miles or more the line runs through a 
level country, and on leaving there the iron horse 
mounts the hills. Here the scenes are entirely dif- 
ferent from those already noted, but they are a con- 
stant charm. Now the passenger gazes through a 



48 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

vista of cocoanut- and mango-trees upon a tangle 
of rank tropical plants and flowers, or upon some 
mountain hamlet with its thatched African huts. 
Plunging from the mouth of some tunnel, he finds 
himself high upon a mountain shelf with a densely- 
wooded ravine beneath his feet, while tall mountain 
forms tower above him on the other side. The pic- 
ture is ever changing, and never commonplace or 
familiar. 

CARRIAGE AND CAB FARES. 

Besides the railway, there are mail-coaches that 
communicate with all the principal towns that are 
not connected by rail. These coaches usually run 
three times a week. The rates are less than those 
of carriage-hire. The general practice is for long 
distances, and where the hirer has the use of a 
buggy and horses for a period of twenty days, to 
charge at the rate of £i a day. The hirer can 
arrange before starting on his journey whether he 
or the livery-stable proprietor shall pay the cost of 
feeding the driver and horses as he goes along. 
The rate paid for the driver' s^food is usually is. 6d. 
a day, and the cost of feeding the horses varies ac- 
cording to the current price of corn and grass. The 
usual price is 3d. per quart for corn, 3d. per bundle 
for grass, and 6d. per night for pasturage. 

If hired for a day or for short trips, the rates of 
course are much higher; 305. is the usual price 
when taken for a single day, and 6d. per mile for 
short distances, saddle ponies for morning or even- 
ing rides, 85. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 49 

The main road encircles the island, and is about 
five hundred miles long. The island is intersected 
by splendid roads, the best in the world, which 
were built by former governors, who, by the aid of 
convict labor, ran wide macadamized thoroughfares 
across the island, connecting every village and town. 
These grand routes make driving perfectly delight- 
ful, and are the admiration of visitors from the 
United States. A road-tax of £3 per year is levied 
on each buggy, which is used to keep the roads in 
repair. Strange to say, Kingston, the capital, has 
the poorest roads on the island. Kingston is well 
supplied with cabs. The fare is 6d. within the 
limits of the city, or 35. per hour. 

The tram-cars afford the means of travelling 
in the parish of Kingston, and as far as Constant 
Springs in St. Andrew's Parish. The fare within 
Kingston is 2d. by tickets; to Halfway Tree, 6d. ; 
to Constant Springs, 15. ; return tickets to and from 
Constant Springs, 15. 6d. each. One-third more is 
charged if cash fares are paid. When electricity 
supersedes the mules that are now used to draw the 
cars, better service and more reasonable prices will 
probably be charged. 



50 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 



CHAPTER VI. 

KINGSTON. 

Kingston is not only the metropolis and capital 
of Jamaica, it is also the most important city in the 
British West Indies. 

It is situated on the northern shore of one of the 
finest harbors in the world, which is formed by a 
long coral reef called the Palisades, covered with 
cocoanut palms, which shuts out the Caribbean 
Sea, leaving only a narrow entrance to the harbor. 
On the end of this point of land was situated the 
famous city of Port Royal, destroyed by the great 
earthquake of 1692. The waters of Kingston Har- 
bor now cover its site. 

Kingston owes its origin to the destruction of Port 
Royal. Many of the survivors of that dreadful 
catastrophe settled on the Liguanea plain, which 
rises by a gentle slope to the foot of the mountains 
at the northern limits of the plain. The city is 
built on a gravelly soil, formed of the debris brought 
down by rains and rivers from the mountains. 
Kingston was originally built in the form of a 
cross. King Street, running north and south, 
crosses Queen Street, which is laid east and west. 
At their intersection is the Parade Ground, a pleas- 
ant little park, which is a favorite resting-place for 



AMAICA GUIDE. 5 I 

the people after the heat of the day j.s over. It is 
profusely adorned with tropical plants and orna- 
mental shade-trees, many of which are interesting 
to botanists, and novel and curious to visitors from 
colder climes. The "gardens contain fountains and 
tanks, in which grow water-lilies and other aquatic 
plants. At the King-street entrance to the Parade 
is a fine statue to Sir Charles Metcalfe, a former 
governor. 

Kingston is a quaint and curious dusty old city, 
a strange combination of the Spanish and Old 
English style. The buildings are built of stone, 
brick, and wood. The city has been visited during 
its history by four great fires. The first, in 1780, 
caused a loss of £30,000. The second, in 1843, 
swept the city from the east end of Harbor Street 
to the Catholic chapel at the end of Duke Street. 
The third fire occurred in 1862, and burned down 
stores, wharves, and other property valued at £90,- 
000. The fourth, in 1882, rendered six thousand 
people homeless, and burnt a large portion of the 
business part of the town. The danger from fire 
has been greatly lessened since the introduction of 
a new water supply from the Wag Water River. 
The pressure is sufficient for all fire purposes ; and 
the system of filtration used results in a supply for 
drinking purposes, in place of the former precari- 
ous supply from wells and cisterns, that probably 
no other tropical city in the world can excel, and 
few can equal. Kingston holds an important place 
in the commerce of the world, and a vast amount 
of trade is carried on through this port. Its water- 



52 ST A RK 'S ILL USTRA TED 

front teems with shipping, and there are always 
here steamers and sailing-vessels from all parts of 
the world. Vast quantities of merchandise, prod- 
ucts of this island, are shipped from Kingston, — 
sugar, rum, coffee, logwood, fruits, and pimento ; 
and the imports consist of manufactured and food 
products of Europe and America. 

Banks, life and fire insurance companies, build- 
ing societies, and discount associations flourish here, 
and do a large business. Electric lights are fast 
taking the place of gas in the principal buildings 
and streets. Ice is manufactured by two different 
concerns, and sold much lower than it can be im- 
ported. 

Amongst Kingston's buildings the finest are the 
new Theatre Royal ; the hospital on North Street ; 
the Colonial Bank on Duke Street ; the old parish 
church on King Street, near the Parade, in which 
Admiral Benbow is buried, and where half the his- 
torical events of the last two centuries centre ; the 
colonial secretary's office ; and the library and mu- 
seum buildings on East Street. The Court House 
on Harbor Street, though externally very unlovely, 
is not without its points of interest. On the walls 
of the Court House are two striking and well-exe- 
cuted paintings of Sir Joshua Rowe and Sir Bryan 
Edwards, two former chief-justices of the colony. 

Kingston is not the hot, unhealthy city that many 
people think it is. The fact is, there has been a 
wrong impression created by some writers in times 
past ; for certainly a large and contented white pop- 
ulation make Kingston their habitation the year 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 53 

round, and with a little attention to the commonest 
hygienic laws, they are not only able to exist, but 
to be comfortable. 

Nature has provided the old city with an agent 
to purify it and make it comfortably habitable — 
this is the " Doctor." By that the Jamaican means 
the strong south wind that comes in from off the 
ocean at about ten o'clock every morning, and lasts 
till about four in the afternoon. Then after sunset 
there is a cool breeze from the mountains on the 
north that descends to the low lands on the coast. 
The immediate and pleasant results of the "Doctor's" 
visit is the preservation of health and the conserva- 
tion of comfort. 

It is very interesting to walk about the streets of 
Kingston, and observe the people going about in 
their every-day life. Vehicles of all kinds are seen 
in the streets, — stylish turnouts from the equipages 
of the governor to those of the citizens' mule-carts 
and drays ; and the ever-present hacks, whose driv- 
ers are the most obtrusive and most offensive hack- 
drivers on earth, Barbados only excepted. Yonder 
comes a negro soldier with turban, tight jacket, 
and Zouave rigging below. Near him is an East 
Indian coolie woman, who is gorgeously apparelled, 
her small hands and feet ornamented with silver 
bangles, and her lithe body wrapped in party- 
colored garments. There are many beautiful resi- 
dences in Kingston. In driving through the suburbs 
•the traveller may notice unattractive high dusty 
walls ; but if he were to step through the door of 
the wall, he would find himself in the midst of 



54 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

charming grounds, gardens, and lawns, made 
beautiful with rare tropical plants, with the great 
sumptuous house and wide verandas, typically 
tropical surroundings ; and here, too, the traveller 
would find the truest and freest hospitality. 

CHURCHES. 

Various religious sects have their places of wor- 
ship in Kingston, but none of them claim to be 
grand or great specimens of ecclesiastical architec- 
ture. The Presbyterian kirk on East Queen Street, 
and the Wesleyan chapel adjoining it, and known 
as Coke chapel, in memory of Dr. Coke, an emi- 
nent and honored Methodist missionary a hundred 
years ago, are perhaps the best and most complete 
to look at. The Roman Catholic church or cathe- 
dral is a handsome structure. Almost opposite to 
this last-named building is a striking and ornate 
Jewish synagogue. The first place, however, must 
be given to the old Kingston parish church, facing 
the Parade Gardens. The church was built shortly 
after the destruction of Port Royal. A memorial 
tablet placed near the font at the west door records 
the interment of William Hall on the 18th of Sep- 
tember, 1699, seven years after the earthquake. 
This is probably the oldest building in Kingston, 
and has successfully withstood all the great fires 
that have devastated the city in the past. The 
church has of recent years been much enlarged and 
improved, and as it now exists it is almost twice the 
dimensions of the original edifice. Under a black 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 55 

marble slab in the chancel rests the bones of Admiral 
Benbow, who lost his life, Nov. 4, 1702, in defence 
of Jamaica, in his engagement with Du Casse, ad- 
miral of the French fleet. Another stone records 
the prowess of Samuel Philips, who departed this 
life the 16th of August, 1757. He commanded the 
Alexander private sloop-of-war out of Bristol, and 
cut his Majesty's ship Solebay out of St. Martin's 
Road the 16th of April, 1746, for which he had the 
honor to kiss his Majesty's hand, and received a 
gold medal and chain — Alexander 140, Solebay, 
220 men. 

The walls of the church are decorated with some 
exquisitely beautiful mural tablets, which keep 
fresh the memory of names associated with the 
naval, military, and civil service of the colony. 

HOTELS AND BOARDING-HOUSES. 

Until within the last few years the insufficiency 
of hotels and boarding accommodations was a great 
drawback in Kingston, but any ground for com- 
plaint of this sort has now been removed. 

Myrtle Bank is the largest and best hotel in 
Kingston. It is situated on Harbor Street, the 
principal business street of the city, and about five 
minutes' walk from the post-office and stores. Sit- 
uated as it is upon the seashore, with a beautiful 
tropical garden between it and the shore, in the 
centre of which is the band-stand, it has all the 
advantages of a city, country, and seashore resi- 
dence combined. The building is a massive-look- 



56 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

ing structure, three stories high, built of brick, on 
three sides of a square, in the centre of which is a 
flower-garden. On the water side it is surrounded 
with roomy, cool, shaded piazzas which overlook 
Kingston Harbor, with the Palisades in the distance. 
During the hottest part of the day, there is always 
a cool breeze blowing from the water, which makes 
this hotel the coolest spot in Kingston. To a per- 
son that has visited the Riviera, this hotel and its 
location will very forcibly remind them of the ones 
seen at Mentone, only the climate is much more 
delightful here. On the first floor are the reading- 
and dining-rooms ; on the second floor, taking up 
the whole block of the main building, are the mag- 
nificent drawing-rooms, that open with long French 
windows on all sides onto the verandas. Above 
this room are the bedrooms, opening upon the wide 
piazza. The charges at Myrtle Bank are quite 
reasonable, — $2.50 and $3.00 per day, and less 
by the week. Mr. De Pass, the proprietor, is a 
very courteous gentleman, and no guest is forgotten 
or neglected, or goes away dissatisfied. 

There are various other hotels and boarding- 
houses in the city, such as the Park Lodge, Water- 
loo Hotel, Clarendon House, and Streadwick's 
Marine Garden, adjacent to the Myrtle Bank. 

Marine Garden contains a number of single cot- 
tages furnished ; they are cool and airy structures, 
shaded at all times of the day by luxuriant palms 
and other trees, which give the place a truly syl- 
van aspect. The frontage is seaward, and a fine 
esplanade and landing-wharf offer admirable facil- 



JAMAICA GUIDE 



57 



ities for yachting and boating. The houses in the 
garden during the summer months are patronized 
by many of the best families in Kingston. A din- 
ing-hall is run in connection with the houses. 

The following is the tariff established by the 
Government, which applies to all hotels built un- 
der the Hotels Law of 1890. Approved by the 
Governor in Privy Council, March 4, 1893. 

£ s. d. 



Board and lodging for one 

per day 012 

For one per week . . . 310 
For two in one room per 

week 60 

Special arrangements for 
families and parties. 

Single beds o 4 

Double beds 06 

Tea, coffee, milk, choco- 
late, per cup ...00 
Ditto, with bread and but- 
ter 01 

Ditto, with toast ...01 
Ditto, with toast and eggs o 1 



Servants' 

Coffee . . 


Meals. 










Bed . . . 







Servants' Board. 

Per day o 

Per week 1 

Children under 12 years, 

half price. 
Meals served in bedroom 

extra, each . . . . o 



£ s. d. 
Sandwiches from ...010 

Pasturage. 
Guinea Grass, per day ..006 
Ditto, per night ....006 
Grass, per bundle ...004 
Corn, per quart ....004 

Transient baths . 

Breakfast from ....026 
Lunch " ....016 

Dinner " 

Supper " 

Brandy, per bottle ...06 

Ditto, ***, per bottle ..07 

Whiskey <; " 

Old Rum " " 

Champagne " " 

Champagne Monopole, per 
bottle . . 

Moselle, still and spark- 
ling, per bottle 

Hoch " " 

Claret, per bottle, — 
St. Estephe . . 
Margeaux . 

Malt, per bottle, — 
Guiness' Stout ...009- 
Lager Beer ....009 

Bass' Ale 009 

Tennent's Ale ...009 



53 



STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 



McEwan's Ale 
Angostura Bitters 

Single Drinks. 
Brandy . . 

Brandy, *** . 
Whiskey . . 
Old Rum . 
Cocktail . . 
Wine Bitters 
Sherry Wine 
Port " 

Holland Gin 
Old Tom " 



Syrups .... 
Curacoa .... 
Angostura Bitters . 
Soda Water, English 
Soda Water, native 
Lemonade " 

Ginger Ale " 

Tonic Water " 

Cigars. 

Governors, native . 
After Suppers . . 
Conchas, Speciales 
Reinitas, " 



4 

2 



Boarders' Bills are payable weekly ; and all bills must be settled in notes, 
gold, or silver before guests leave the hotel. 



MARKETS. 

The markets of Kingston are one of the sights 
of the town. They are excellent institutions, and 
are always well stocked with an infinite variety of 
fruit that is new to the tourist. The markets are 
two in number, — the Victoria at the foot of King 
Street, and the Jubilee Market at the northwest of 
the Parade. Here may be seen turtle, meat, poul- 
try, and fish such as are found only in tropical 
waters, many remarkable for their beauty of color, 
together with heaps of tropical fruits and vegetables 
brought down over night, mainly on women's heads, 
from distant parts of the island. The noise, bustle, 
and clatter of tongues, the seeming confusion and 
spontaneous flow of good-nature, all combine to 
make a visit to a Kingston market, especially on 
Saturday morning, a sight and scene which will not 
readily be forgotten. Of the two Kingston markets, 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 59 

the Victoria Market is situated at the southerly end 
of King Street, and may be reached by street-cars 
from almost any part of the city. It is a handsome 
and spacious building, conveniently arranged both 
for purchasers and for sellers, within a few yards 
of the public landing-place on the north shore of 
the harbor, and therefore exposed to the refreshing 
sea-breeze which cools the heated town. The other 
market is to the west of the Parade Gardens, and 
was built in 1887, and called the Jubilee Market, in 
commemoration of the fiftieth year of the Queen's 
accession. 

Food supplies in Jamaica, with the exception of 
meats and poultry, are cheaper than in the North. 
Fruits are especially low in price, and of great va- 
riety, such as mangoes, oranges, bananas, custard 
apples, sappodillas, guavas, star apples, papaws, 
avocado pears, lemons, and many other fruits that 
are new to the visitor to these shores. 

Generally the cost of living in Jamaica is not so 
great as it is in the North. Clothing is usually 
cheaper than in America. Laborers' wages are also 
lower, but higher than in England. 

Kingston also possesses its theatre, race-course, 
and clubs, some connected with sport, others exist- 
ing for social purposes. The Jamaica Club, on 
Hanover Street, always welcomes strangers heart- 
ily. The Royal Jamaica Yacht Club has com- 
modious quarters in the east end of the city. The 
Society of Agriculture and Commerce has its home 
on Harbor Street, and its tables are well supplied 
with English and American papers. 



6o STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 



CHAPTER VII. 

LIBRARY AND MUSEUM. 

In making a tour of Kingston, one of the first 
places to attract the visitor is the Institute of Ja- 
maica on East Street. It has a museum and library, 
and both are free to the public. The library con- 
tains upwards of twelve thousand volumes, and 
many valuable collections of books and pamphlets 
bearing on the natural productions of the West 
Indies, and Jamaica in particular. A portrait gal- 
lery of Jamaican celebrities is connected with the 
library, and lectures on literary and scientific sub- 
jects are frequently given. The greatest curiosity 
of all in the library is — 

THE SHARK PAPERS. 

The following remarkable story, gathered from 
official documents still preserved in the Institute of 
Jamaica, may well be considered the greatest fish- 
story on record. It forms an incident stranger than 
any based on fiction ; and were it not for the un- 
doubted evidence as to the genuineness of it, it would 
be almost beyond belief that such a case could 
occur. The brig Nancy left Baltimore under the 
command of Thomas Briggs on July 3, 1799. She 
was manned by Swedes and Danes, and owned by 
















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A3IAHAI 






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JAMAICA GUIDE. 6l 

Germans, naturalized citizens of the United States. 
Three years before she had been captured by a 
French privateer and carried into Guadeloupe, and 
there condemned as American property. 

The Nancy cleared at Baltimore for Cura^oa, and 
on the way put into Aruba, which port afforded a 
retreat to ships of all nations, and supplied them 
with arms and ammunition in time of war. Hence 
Briggs went to Curacoa, distant about fifty miles, 
in a droger, and returned with a German named 
Schultze, an agent of the owners. After leaving 
Aruba, she was, on the 28th of August, 1799, ca P~ 
tured by H. M. S. Sparrow, a cutter commanded 
by Hugh Wylie. When taken she was near the 
island of L. Vache, off the south coast of Hayti, 
and was taken into Port Royal with another prize, 
a Spanish schooner. Suit was brought in the Court 
of Vice- Admiralty at Kingston on Sept. 9, 1799, in 
accordance with the Royal Proclamation of the 18th 
of February, 1793, and November, 1796. It was 
declared that the Nancy was a lawful prize, seized 
on the high seas as the property of persons being 
enemies of the realm. A claim for dismissal of the 
suit with costs was put in on the 14th of September, 
which would probably have prevailed but for the 
fact that Lieutenant Fitton produced, on Sept. 14, 
certain papers, which he found in a shark caught 
off Jacmel, while cruising in the tender of H. M. S. 
Abergavenny. These papers, together with others 
of an incriminating nature found on the Nancy 
some time after her capture, concealed in the cap- 
tain's cabin, " so hard drove in that it was with 



62 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

difficulty they could be taken out," and some in a 
cask of salt pork, led to her condemnation on Nov. 
25, 1799. The actual packet of paper with the 
affidavit of Lieutenant Fitton can be seen in a glass 
frame in the Institute of Jamaica. The following 
is a copy of the affidavit that testifies to the authen- 
ticity of the same : — 

Jamaica, SS. 

IN THE COURT OF VICE ADMIRALTY. 

The Adv. Gen. ex. ret. Wylie, et a/., 
vs. The Brig Nancy. 

Michael Fitton, Esquire, being duly sworn, maketh oath 
and saith that the tender of His Majesty's ship of war 
Abergavenny, then under the command of this deponent, 
being on a cruise off Jacmel in the island of San Domingo, 
on the thirteenth day of August last, discovered a dead 
bullock surrounded by sharks, which he had towed along- 
side the said tender for the purpose of catching the said 
sharks, and this deponent saith that having caught one of 
the said sharks and hoisted it on board the said tender, 
he ordered some of the seamen to separate its jaws and 
clean them, as the said shark was larger than common, 
which the said seamen did, whilst others opened its maw, 
and therein discovered in the presence of this deponent 
a parcel of papers tied up with a string. And this depo- 
nent saith that on perusing the said paper he discovered 
a letter of a recent date from Curricoa, and as it occurred 
to this deponent they might relate to some vessel detained 
by some of His Majesty's cruisers, he had them dried on 
deck; and this deponent saith that having been informed 
that His Majesty's cutter Sparrow has sent down to this 
island as prize a certain brig, a vessel called the Nancy, 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 63 

and supposing the papers so found as aforesaid might be 
useful at the trial of the said vessel called the Nancy, 
hath caused the same to be sealed up, and delivered them 
to one of the surrogates of this honorable court without 
any fraud, alteration, addition, subduction, or embezzle- 
ment whatsoever. , , , ,_, 

Mich L Fitton. 

Taken and the triith thereof sworn to ~\ 
before me this 2i,th day of Septem- \ 
ber, 1799. J 

J. Fraser, Surrogate. 

These papers were delivered to me by Lieut. Fitton at 
the time of his swearing to his affidavit in the cause, 
Adv. Genl. Wylie, et a/., vs. the brig Nancy. 

J. Fraser, Surrogate. 

2\th September, 1799. 

In the United Service Museum, London, is the 
head of the shark which swallowed the papers, ac- 
companied by a box containing certain papers found 
on the Nancy, which probably were not needed in 
evidence in the case. 

The next article of interest in the library is the — 

BELL OF THE CHURCH OF PORT ROYAL. 

The church of Port Royal, which fell during the 
earthquake, had been erected only ten years, on 
which occasion a prophetic text was the subject of 
the consecration sermon, and the tremendous judg- 
ments under which the unfortunate town soon la- 
bored could not but recall the words, " Put off thy 
shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou 
standest is holy ground." The sermon was printed 



64 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

at the request of Sir Henry Morgan and others, 
whose liberal contributions supplied the funds to 
build the church ; in fact, it was built with the fruits 
of piracy. This bell, which was hung in it, prob- 
ably belonged to the old Spanish church which this 
church replaced. Tradition says that the bell was 
given to the old church of Cagua (Port Royal) by 
a convent in Spain ; but it is possible that it is the 
bell that hung in the great church of St. Jago de 
la Vega (Spanish Town) when the English took 
possession, which we are informed was cast of cop- 
per produced in the island. 

This bell was recovered after the earthquake, and 
was hung in the new church, built in 1720, which 
occupied the site of the old one destroyed by the 
earthquake. Either during the ordinary course of 
events, by the continual beating of the clapper, 
through a flaw in the metal, or through its fall at 
the time of the earthquake, the bell was cracked; 
but after its recovery the crack was stayed by a 
drill-hole. In 1855, as the crack had extended in 
two directions and rendered the bell useless, the 
churchwardens sold it for old metal. During the 
administration of Sir John Peter Grant it was 
brought to his notice that it was lying in an old 
curiosity shop in Kingston, in imminent danger of 
being melted down ; and it was purchased by the 
Government, and deposited at the Ordinance wharf, 
whence it found its way to the Institute of Jamaica, 
where it is now on exhibition. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 65 

THE MACES. 

There are shown in a case two maces ; one was 
once used at the meetings of the House of As- 
sembly, and the other at those of the Legislative 
Council. 

The older of the two maces is surmounted by a 
royal crown, on the base of which are the British 
coat-of-arms as used from 17 14 to 1801, and the 
letters G. R. Around the head, in panels divided 
by caryatides, are the emblems of England, Scot- 
land, Ireland, France, and Jamaica. It bears the 
London Hall mark and date of 1753, and the 
initials M. F. of the maker, Mordecai Fox of 
London. 

The other mace is similar in appearance, but of 
a little later date, 1787, and bears the initials H. G. 
of the maker, Henry Green of London. 

The library contains many rare old books and 
pamphlets upon the natural histor}^, botany, geog- 
raphy, and history of Jamaica ; and the obliging 
custodians of these treasures are very ready to as- 
sist the delver-in after old records. Here we go 
back to the days of Spanish rule, piratic atrocity, 
of English ascendency, of slave insurrections, and 
tyranny of the masters. The museum, which is in a 
separate building from the library, contains many 
objects of interest which will well repay inspection. 
Among them is a collection illustrative of the geol- 
ogy of the island made by officers of the Geologi- 
cal Survey between the years i860 and 1866. The 
collection is rich in tertiary fossils, etc., and its value 



66 STACK'S ILLUSTRATED 

is greatly enhanced by the carefully prepared maps 
showing the geological formation of the different 
parishes. The herbarium contains complete sets 
of ferns, grasses, sedges, and orchids of Jamaica. 
There are also well-preserved specimens of the 
various shells, fishes, birds, reptiles, and insects of 
the island. A map of Jamaica, modelled in relief 
by Mr. Thomas Harrison, late surveyor-general, 
shows the conformation of the surface of the island. 
There is also a fine collection of polished speci- 
mens of native woods, and of the natural products 
of the island, such as fibres in the raw and pre- 
pared states. One article with a grim and grew- 
some interest is an iron cage or gibbet. It was 
unearthed in Sandy Gully, in St. Andrews, some 
years ago, and in it was enclosed the bones of a 
woman. This cage of strap-iron is so constructed 
as to fit the human body with bands around the 
neck, breast, and loins ; bars and stirrups for the 
legs and feet ; the latter having sharp spikes to 
press into the soles of the occupant's feet, and a 
ring at the top of the structure to suspend it by. 
The use to which this awful instrument of death 
was applied is described by Bryan Edwards. 1 He 
says, — 

" The circumstances which distinguish the Koroman- 
tyn, or Gold Coast negroes from all others, are firmness 
both of body and mind, a ferociousness of disposition, 
but withal, activity, courage, and stubbornness, which 
prompt them to enterprises of difficulty and danger, and 

1 " History of the West Indies," by Bryan Edwards, vol. ii., Book IV. p. 74. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 67 

enable them to meet death in its most horrible shape 
with fortitude or indifference. This was shown in the 
negro rebellion of 1760. It arose at the instigation of a 
Koromantyn negro, who had been a chief in Guinea, and 
broke out on the frontier plantation in St. Mary's parish 
and the adjoining estate of Trinity, the property of my 
deceased relation and benefactor, Zachary Bayly. On 
these plantations were upward of one hundred Gold Coast 
negroes newly imported ; and I do not believe that an in- 
dividual amongst them had received the least shadow of 
ill-treatment from the time of their arrival. Having col- 
lected themselves into a body, about one o'clock in the 
morning they proceeded to the fort at Port Maria, killed 
the sentinel, and provided themselves with as great a 
quantity of arms and ammunition as they could conve- 
niently dispose of. Being by this time joined by a number 
of their countrymen from the neighboring plantation, they 
marched up the high road that led to the interior parts of 
the country, carrying death and desolation as they went. 
At Ballard's Valley they surrounded the overseer's house 
about four in the morning, in which, finding all the white 
servants in bed, they butchered every one of them in the 
most savage manner, and literally drank their blood 
mixed with rum. At Esher and other estates they exhib- 
ited the same tragedy, and then set fire to the buildings 
and canes. In one morning they murdered between thirty 
and forty whites and mulattoes, not sparing even infants 
at the breast. Before their progress was stopped, Tacky 
the chief was killed in the woods by one of the parties 
that went in pursuit of them ; but some others of the ring- 
leaders being taken, and a general inclination to revolt 
appearing among all the Koromantyn negroes in the 
island, it was thought necessary to make a few terrible 
examples of some of the most guilty. Of three who were 
clearly proven to have been concerned in the murders of 
Ballard's Valley, one was condemned to be burnt, and the 



68 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

other two to be hung up in irons and left to perish in that 
dreadful situation. The wretch that Was burnt was made 
to sit on the ground, and his body being chained to an 
iron stake, the fire was applied to his feet. He uttered not 
a groan, and saw his legs reduced to ashes with the utmost 
composure ; after which one of his arms, by some means, 
getting loose, he snatched a brand from the fire that was 
consuming him, and flung it in the face of the executioner. 
The two that were hung up alive were indulged, at their 
own request, with a hearty meal immediately before they 
were suspended on the gibbet, which was erected in the 
parade of the town of Kingston. From that time until 
they expired they never uttered the least complaint except 
only on a cold night ; but diverted themselves all day long 
in discourse with their countrymen, who were permitted, 
very improperly, to surround the gibbet. On the seventh 
day a notion prevailed among the spectators, that one of 
them wished to communicate an important secret to his 
master, my near relation, who being in St. Mary's parish, 
the commanding officer sent for me. I endeavored by 
means of an interpreter to let him know I was present ; but 
I could not understand what he said in return. I remem- 
ber that both he and his fellow-sufferers laughed immod- 
erately at something that occurred, I know not what. 
The next morning one of them silently expired, as did the 
others on the morning of the ninth day." 

Such were the uses the iron cage was put to, that 
we now see before us, as described by an eye-wit- 
ness. In this nineteenth century it does not seem 
possible that such cruelties could ever have been 
practised ; yet burning negroes at the stake is no 
uncommon occurrence in some of the Southern 
States at the present time. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 69 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PLACES OF INTEREST IN THE VICINITY OF KINGSTON. 
CASTLETON GARDENS. 

The governor's residence, or King's House as it 
is called in Jamaica, is five miles from Kingston, on 
the slope which gradually ascends from the sea to 
the mountains. There are more objects of interest 
to be seen in a drive to King's House than in any 
other direction outside of Kingston. The district 
through which the road passes is known as the 
Liguanea Plain. The first mile or two after leaving 
the town, the road passes houses fronting on the 
street, that are generally insignificant ; it then comes 
to the better sort, behind walls or overhung with 
trees, which make them imperfectly visible. The 
race-course is now reached ; and beyond it, on the 
northeast side, is the Up-park camp of about thirty 
acres in extent. One battalion of the West India 
regiment of negroes is always stationed here, in 
addition to a number of white troops. The place 
contains good barracks, parade-ground, swimming- 
bath, hospital, and everything to make life as endu- 
rable as possible. It is a cool, healthy location, and 
the views are fine. The highway upon which the 
street-cars run leads out to Halfway Tree ; it is 
the beginning of the great highway that crosses the 



7<D ST A RK '.S* ILL USTRA JED 

island, passing Constant Springs, over Stony Hill, 
across the mountains of the interior, following the 
Wag Water River, past Castleton Gardens, and 
joining the coast-road at Annotto Bay. 

At every part of the day the road is well travelled, 
especially on Tuesdays and Saturdays, which are 
market-days, when the passing peasantry become 
a multitude, — a tide that flows in the morning, and 
ebbs in the evening. 

The highway is dotted with residences of Kings- 
ton merchants, professional men, and higher grade 
of government officials, many of them occupying 
the site of former pens, the names of which they re- 
tain. Around the houses grow broad-leaved agave 
plants, segregated branches of palms, great blazing 
masses of scarlet or yellow bloom, flowering shrubs 
and trees, clusters of deep-hued mango foliage, and 
groups of tree-ferns, or beds of glowing blossoms. 
The only visible drawback to these residences is 
the clouds of dust that are apt to roll in from the 
road in the dry season. 

HALFWAY TREE. 

The village of Halfway Tree is three miles from 
Kingston. It is situated on the cross-road, where 
there is a cluster of houses, a court-house, market, 
and a beautifully restored parish church. Sir 
Nicholas Lawes, once governor of the island, is 
buried here. In the churchyard reposes all that is 
mortal of Robert Munroe Harrison, brother of Presi- 
dent William Henry Harrison, and great-uncle of 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 7 1 

Benjamin Harrison, late President of the United 
States. He was wounded while serving his country 
on the frigate " Constitution," in an engagement 
with a French vessel ; later he commanded an armed 
ship fitted out against the French; and in 182 1 
was sent by the United States on a confidential mis- 
sion to the British West Indies for the purpose of 
negotiating a treaty opening their ports to American 
commerce. In 183 1 he became American consul 
at Jamaica, under appointment from President Jack- 
son, and so continued until his death in 1858. Mrs. 
Harrison had died the previous year. In this church, 
Livingston, one of the signers of the Declaration of 
Independence, is said to have been married. 

The street-cars continue to run to the north as 
far as Constant Spring, one of the oldest and most 
famous sugar estates on the island. It is now out 
of cultivation, and is occupied as a hotel site. This 
hotel is an imposing structure of four hundred feet 
frontage, and three stories in height. The site is 
six hundred feet above sea level ; and from the cool 
and shady piazzas which surround the seaward 
front, one of the most exquisite panoramic views in 
Jamaica can be had. The hotel is perfect from a 
hygienic point of view, but will never be a pecuni- 
ary success until it is connected with Kingston by 
electric cars. 

At a little distance from Halfway Tree are sev- 
eral fine residences, and among them the King's 
House, the official residence of the governor of 
Jamaica. This is a fine residence, of the old West 
Indian type, with upper and lower verandas shaded 



72 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

by jalousies entirely enclosing it ; attached to it is 
a magnificent ball-room, which was built at a cost 
of £5,000. The drive to the house through the 
shrubbery and handsome trees that shade it is very 
fine ; and the lawns and grounds attached to the res- 
idence are beautifully laid out, and contain some 
rare and unique specimens of flowering plants. 
Altogether it is a sumptuous sort of place, where a 
governor with £6,000 a year might spend his term 
of office with considerable comfort and ease. 

HOPE GARDENS. 

The Hope Road, leading from Halfway Tree, 
passes the Jamaica High School and University 
College ; it is an elegant structure of good dimen- 
sions. The High School and College are combined 
in one building. Near the college is the Govern- 
ment Botanical Garden, two hundred and twenty 
acres in extent, situated at the foot of the hills 
which bound the limits of the Liguanea Plain, five 
miles distant from Kingston. It has been decided 
to make Hope Garden the chief botanic garden of 
the island. New varieties of fruit, fibre plants, co- 
coanuts, cane, and rare flowering-plants for shade 
and ornamental purposes, are here propagated. It 
is largely through these experimental grounds and 
cultivation, often kept up at great cost, that Jamaica 
has become the garden spot it is to-day. Probably 
two-thirds of the fruits, nuts, choice woods, and 
economic or medicinal plants now grown in Jamaica 
were introduced from foreign countries. The an- 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 73 

nual mean temperature in these gardens is 78 Far., 
and the rainfall 50.19 inches per annum. 

CASTLETON GARDEN. 

The Government Botanic Gardens at Castleton 
are nineteen miles from Kingston, on what is known 
as the Junction Road, previously referred to as the 
road crossing the island from Kingston to Annotto 
Bay. The drive from Kingston to Castleton Gar- 
dens is one of the most delightful excursions out of 
Kingston. It is an all-day trip, and the start should 
be made shortly after sunrise ; then the heat, glare, 
and dust which annoy travellers on the Halfway 
Tree section will be avoided. After passing Con- 
stant Spring, and Mona estates, with their disused 
chimneys and ruined buildings of old sugar-making 
works, the air becomes fresher, the fields and foli- 
age greener, the light pleasanter than on the lower 
ground. The limits of the plain are reached ; and 
in front rises the crumpled, irregular hills that slope 
back towards the Wag Water River, or rise fold and 
convolute fold on ridge and spur, till far in the dis- 
tance they reach the highest altitude on the island, 
a height of 7,423 feet, in the Blue Mountain Peak. 
The ride to Castleton is over one of the finest roads 
on the island. Forest trees make a roof overhead 
as the carriage ascends. Stony Hill, near the top 
of the hill, is a little settlement, — a few cabins and 
stores. 

A road to the left leads to the grounds of the 
Reformatory, a large building originally used as 



74 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

barracks, but now the home of a little army of bad 
boys under the Government's fostering care.' The 
view from the top of the hill is magnificent. In 
the alluvial meadows on the river side are tobacco 
fields cleanly and carefully kept, belonging to a 
small colony of Cubans. There is sago, too, and 
ginger, tamarinds, cocoa, and coffee, groves of co- 
coanut, miles of plantain and banana, hillsides cov- 
ered with ferns, houses wattled and covered with 
clay, and red flowers of the orchid glowing like 
spots of flame from the cottonwood branches. 
Women are met striding along under their burdens, 
destined for the market in Kingston, their little ones 
with little baskets trudging by their side. Of the 
lords of creation, perhaps one to every one hundred 
women will be met, usually riding on mule or 
donkey, with pipe in mouth, and carrying nothing. 
The negro women in all the West Indies Islands do 
most of the work ; the men live in idleness. 

At several points are sharp curves where the 
road follows the dip of some vertical ravine. There 
is an ancient and massive look about the safeguard 
walls of these places ; but the most picturesque, 
quaint, and solid-looking piece of engineering on 
the road is where a well-buttressed bridge spans the 
Wag Water Loch at the head of the water-works 
system. From it the view of red-roofed houses 
nestled among the living green, the flashing waters, 
the never-ceasing variety of luxuriant bloom, com- 
bine to satisfy the sense and still to excite the 
imagination. 

Castleton is at last reached. It is situated in a 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 7$ 

deep valley, entirely surrounded by lofty mountains, 
through which flows the Wag Water, which foams 
and tumbles through the valley like a true mountain 
stream. Nature has made a garden of it, with all 
the advantages of loveliness and fertility that a rich 
valley and a beautiful stream could combine to fur- 
nish. Its soil is rich and deep, its climate never cold, 
nor even uncomfortably hot, the mean temperature 
being 75 Far., and the rainfall 109 inches annually. 
In such a place of natural advantages and beauty 
the Government built wisely a garden, where all the 
strange and useful plants of other warm countries 
might be fostered and acclimated. Here bloom 
myriads of native and imported orchids. India 
and the isles of the sea have been called upon to 
contribute their valuable foliage, food-plants, medi- 
cinal trees, and herbs. There is a large industrial 
ground for novel economic plants. It contains about 
forty thousand plants, such as kolanuts, cacao, olive, 
sugar-cane, rubber-plants, nutmeg, clove, black pep- 
per, mango, vanilla, cardamon, pineapple, cinna- 
mon, tea, etc. Taste and skill have combined to 
arrange these beautiful trophies in a manner pleas- 
ing to the eye ; and good sense has dominated the 
arrangement so that the visitor may feel at his ease 
and find comfort on the benches that are placed 
along the well-kept pathway. Across the road, on 
the banks of the river, are cool arbors amid groups 
of bamboo-trees, where the visitor can enjoy a view 
of the river as it loiters in circled pools, or leaps by 
in eddying rapids. This is a favorite spot for pic- 
nic parties to eat their lunch and bathe. 



76 STARK 'S' ILL USTRA TED 

On the bank of the river is a bower formed of 
twisted vines, so thick that neither sun nor rain can 
penetrate the roof ; the floor is of shining shingle, 
and the air cool from off the water. It is a spot 
which a Nymph or Naiad might haunt. 

The Government has leased to the Boston Fruit 
Company, at a nominal price, eighteen acres of the 
gardens, on which they have erected a group of 
small cottages, and a dining-hall for the entertain- 
ment of visitors. Before the Port Antonio branch 
of the railroad was built, this was the most direct 
road between Kingston and Port Antonio. Castle- 
ton was used as a stopping-place by travellers 
between those places. It was, therefore, found 
necessary by the Boston Fruit Company to erect a 
place for their entertainment, as they were the par- 
ties chiefly interested in the travel this way. Since 
the opening of the railroad the place is but little 
needed ; it has gone the way of the roadside inn of 
olden time. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 77 



CHAPTER IX. 

NEWCASTLE, GORDON TOWN, AND BLUE 
MOUNTAIN PEAK. 

Every visitor to Jamaica should, if possible, visit 
Newcastle, the mountain camp of the white troops. 
Formerly it was necessary to take a carriage, or 
the stage which leaves Kingston daily, to Gordon 
Town ; and from there the rest of the journey up 
the mountain is done on horseback. 

Recently a carriage-road has been built from 
Newcastle, which connects with the Stony Hill 
road. The former is by far the more picturesque 
and interesting route. Leaving Kingston, the way 
to Gordon Town is along the side of the Hope 
River, which has cut its way out from the moun- 
tains through a narrow and deep ravine. The bed 
of the river is covered with large round bowlders, 
weighing hundreds of tons, and brought down by 
the floods during the rainy season; at such times 
the river rises thirty feet above the winter level. 
Above the water line the tropical vegetation is seen 
in all its glory, — ferns and plantains waving in the 
moist air ; cedar, tamarinds, gum-trees, orange- and 
palm-trees striking their roots among the clefts of 
the crags, and hanging out over the abysses below 
them. Agave plants throw up their tall spiral 



78 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

stems ; flowering shrubs and creepers cover bank 
and slope with green, blue, white, and yellow ; and 
above and overhead, as you drive along, the great 
limestone cliffs stand out in bold relief. 

Farther up the hillsides, where the slopes are less 
precipitous, the forest has been burned off by the 
negroes, who use fire to clear the ground for their 
yam-gardens. The road leads through scenery of 
this kind for a distance of about three miles, when 
it is crossed by a bridge. About a mile farther on 
is Gordon Town, situated where the valley widens 
out, and where there are several cocoa and coffee 
plantations. Through an opening, Newcastle is 
seen far above ; the buildings look like specks of 
snow against the mountain side. Here, at a way- 
side inn, horses and refreshments are obtained ; for 
the carriage road ends here, and the rest of the 
journey must be done on horseback. 

For the first two miles the road is tolerably level, 
following the bank of the river under the shade of 
the forest. It then narrows into a horse-path, that 
zigzags up the side of a torrent ; then passes by 
deep pools of clear, cool mountain water ; then 
by the edges of uncomfortable precipices. Then 
again there is a level, with a village, coffee planta- 
tion, orange and banana groves. After this the 
vegetation changes and is not so tropical. Many 
plants are seen that grow in temperate climates ; 
the track becomes rough and narrow, and riders 
are obliged to ride in single file. After an hour's 
ride, and usually passing through a cloud or two, 
the lowest range of houses is reached at an eleva- 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 79 

tion of four thousand feet 'above the sea level. 
From thence the houses rise tier above tier for five 
hundred feet more. The hillside is bare, and the 
slope so steep that there is no standing on it save 
where it has been flattened by the spade. The 
view from here is glorious. The Liguanea plain, 
Kingston, the Harbor, Port Royal, the Palisades, 
and the sea beyond, — all appear clear and distinct 
like a view from a balloon. 

Ships and steamers in the harbor and ocean ap- 
pear like toys ; then a passing cloud of drizzling 
rain will for a few minutes shut out the view ; for, 
fine and bright as the air may be below, the mois- 
ture in the air at this high altitude is being con- 
stantly condensed into clouds of fine rain. Here is 
stationed a regiment of British troops, for health's 
sake only, and to be fit for work if wanted below. 

Continuing the way up, the track becomes, if 
anything, steeper, till the highest point of the camp 
is reached, where the officers' quarters are situated, 
— pretty cottages with creeping vines climbing over 
them. Around the houses are gardens in which 
English flowers and vegetables grow. The tempera- 
ture here never rises above 70 nor falls below 6o°. 

Fires are required to keep the damp out, and 
blankets to sleep under. The camp is very healthy, 
sickness of any kind being rare. Besides the 
novelty of going from a tropical to a temperate 
climate in such a short space of time, the view 
alone from Newcastle is well worth the trip up 
there, to say nothing of the beautiful mountain 
scenery through which the road passes. 



80 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

Parties making this excursion should leave 
Kingston at sunrise, and take a hamper of sup- 
plies with them, as no refreshments of any kind 
can be purchased at Newcastle. 

Another fine excursion from Kingston, via Gor- 
don Town, is to 

BLUE MOUNTAIN PEAK. 

Every visitor to Jamaica should visit Blue Moun- 
tain Peak, the highest point in Jamaica, 7,575 feet 
above sea level. 

It is best to take two days on the trip, sleeping 
one night in the hut on the peak, so as to witness 
the glorious effects of the sunrise in the morning. 
Such provision should be carried as may be deemed 
necessary for a two days' outing ; and a supply of 
rugs and blankets should be taken to protect from 
the cold, as the thermometer fluctuates between 40 
and 50 between sunset and sunrise. It will be 
well also to take a rubber coat along, for in pass- 
ing up through the clouds one is likely to get wet. 

The hut on the peak contains some crockery, 
glassware, and cooking utensils. The key to the 
hut can be obtained on the way up, at the Farm 
Hill estate, six miles from the summit. 

Ponies or mules accustomed to mountain work 
can be obtained at Gordon Town. The road to 
the peak was constructed some years ago by Sir 
Henry Norman at his own expense. Although at 
some points the road is narrow, rugged, and pre- 
cipitous, yet on the whole it is good, and perfectly 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 8 1 

safe to a cool and cautious -rider, and is easily 
traversed by any one possessed of average physical 
endurance. 

The scenery through the whole journey is mag- 
nificent and grand beyond description. For sub- 
limity combined with perfect loveliness, there is 
scarcely anything that can be compared with the 
Blue Mountain Peak. 

After leaving Gordon Town the road passes 
through Guava Ridge, distant four miles, 2,866 
feet elevation ; then two miles beyond it crosses 
Yallahs River ; three miles more, and Farm Hill is 
passed. Newcastle is seen on the left, where the 
British eagle has made his lofty eyrie. Whitfield 
Hall and Abbey Green are next reached, at an 
elevation of 4,000 feet. The wind now blows cold 
and keen, although the sun is out bright and clear. 
At an elevation of 6,000 feet the last vestige of 
cultivation is seen, and then the primeval mountain 
forest is entered ; there is a wild, awe-inspiring love- 
liness and grandeur in this dark, sylvan solitude. 
One effort more and the highest point in Jamaica 
is reached. A wind, cool as the breeze which 
blows across a Highland moor in October, brings 
the blood tingling to the cheek. Ice is said to 
form occasionally on and near Blue Mountain 
Peak. 

Westward the whole fair island of Jamaica lies 
mapped beneath one's feet ; purple hills rising be- 
hind purple hills, melting at last into the shadows 
of distance, and closed by a glorious crimson sun- 
set. Darker and darker grow the shadows on the 



82 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

hillsides ; tiny snow-white clouds rest like feathery- 
plumes on their crests, or rise like a fume of in- 
cense to greet the brightening stars. A cluster of 
lights in the south shows where Kingston lies. And 
so the gaze is riveted in reverent silence until dark- 
ness and mist shut out the view. Then, as repose 
is sought for the night, the necessity of bringing 
rugs and blankets will be fully appreciated. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 83 



CHAPTER X. 



PORT ROYAL. 



Port Royal has had a most eventful history, 
and has occupied a very important part in West 
Indian affairs. But little now remains of the old 
town save parts of the fortifications and sea wall. 
It has in turn been devastated by fire, depopulated 
by pestilence, and destroyed by earthquake. 

Port Royal is situated at the entrance to Kingston 
Harbor, at the end of the Palisades, the coral bar- 
rier reef which forms the breakwater to the harbor 
of Kingston. Here is a harbor large enough to 
shelter the fleets of the world. Scarcely any body 
of water of equal size presents so much food for 
meditation as this old harbor. Here lay the fleets 
of the early Spanish explorers and navigators ; here 
were anchored the squadron of Penn and Venable, 
whose followers gave Jamaica to England in Crom- 
well's day. Before the first house was built in 
Kingston, Port Royal was the rendezvous of all 
English ships which for spoil or commerce fre- 
quented the West Indian seas. It was here that 
the most noted pirates and buccaneers the world has 
ever known — Morgan, Bartholomew, and others of 
their kind — brought their booty, after the conquest 
of Spanish galleons and of South American cities, 



84 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

sold their plunder, and squandered their gains in 
gambling and riot. Here were landed the spoils 
of Panama, the ransom of Maricabo, and the gold 
and jewels and silks taken from rich merchantmen 
bound for Hispaniola. But of all the grim stories 
that the night wind whispers, the weirdest is that 
of the lost city that went down instantly,- with her 
young men and maidens, old men and children ; 
with the wine of the feaster half drunk, and the 
prayer of remorse half said; with unfinished curse, 
uncompleted crime, arrested cruelty, in all its splen- 
dor and guilt. Here, in the later century of legiti- 
mate wars, whole fleets were gathered to take in 
stores, or refit when shattered by engagements. 
Here Nelson had been, and Collingwood and Jerr 
vis, and other great naval heroes. In this spot 
more than any other beyond Great Britain herself 
the energy of the Empire once was throbbing. 

Leaving the market wharf at Kingston in the 
swift little steamer or sailboats that ply between 
Kingston and Port Royal, one is soon carried mer- 
rily over the placid waters of the harbor, which is 
protected by the famous beach of the Palisades from 
any unwelcome violence of the sea. Soon the dis- 
tant palisades are approached. They are so called 
because from the distant sea the tall cocoanut palms 
present the appearance of a palisaded fence. Then 
come the mangrove-covered mud- flats. This spe- 
cies of tree grows in the mud along the seashore 
and in marshy places, and is found only in tropi- 
cal or semi-tropical countries. The foliage is a dark 
green ; and from the branches shoots droop down 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 85 

and take root in the mud, similar to the banyan- 
tree of India, presenting a most peculiar appearance. 
The mangroves jut out into a green prominence, 
which is known as — 



GALLOWS POINT. 

Here perished miserably the pirate and buccaneer. 
Two crews of Cuban pirates were the last executed. 
The following account of their capture and execu- 
tion may prove interesting to the reader : — 

In 1822 Captain Walcott of H. M. Frigate Tyne 
captured off Cuba a large pirate schooner with ten 
men ; these were executed on the 7th of February, 
1823, on Gallows Point, where so many before had 
met their fate. During the trial, evidence showed 
the existence of a larger vessel, the Zaragonaza, 
commanded by Aragonez, and manned by eighty 
desperate outlaws. On the death of the ten at Gal- 
lows Point, solemn vengeance against all English 
was vowed by Aragonez ; and the oath was taken 
by the whole crew, and ratified by the torture and 
slaughter of their own black Jamaica cook, the 
nearest approach to an Englishman among them. 

The Tyne and Tharcian sought, viewed, and 
chased the Zaragonaza into a shallow inlet; the 
attack was made by boats from the frigates ; the 
banks were lined with marksmen landed from the pi- 
rate. This, however, weakened his main force ; and 
the boats, pulling in under fire with slight loss, cap- 
tured the schooner, and hauled up the Union Jack 
over their swallow-tailed black flag. About twenty 



86 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

pirates were killed. Those ashore escaped into 
the bush, a few swam ashore, the sharks got their 
share, and the balance passed through Port Royal 
to their trial at Kingston, doubtless viewing the un- 
sated gallows, which had carried their ten fellows, 
as they passed. In May the gallows were extended 
to hold sixteen, and supported that burden, as de- 
tailed faithfully in "Tom Cringle's Log." This 
example struck terror to the pirates, and their Cuban 
haunts were broken up ; and thenceforward execu- 
tions of pirates ceased. 

THE CHURCH. 

On landing at Port Royal, there is but little in the 
poor fishermen's huts, the boat-slip, and the turtle 
crawl, to recall the fabled wealth of the town in 
olden times. The fire of 1703 took much that the 
earthquake of 1692 had spared, and hurricane and 
tempest have added to the tale of destruction. 

It is usually first to the church that the footprints 
of modern pilgrims turn ; and after obtaining the 
key from the opposite row of hovels, entry is easily 
made, and acknowledged by a trifle for the repairs 
and restoration hoped for by the vicar and all friends 
of the place. 

The church has little in architecture to repay the 
visitor, but contains objects of some value and an- 
tiquity. There is an old, handsome, mahogany 
gallery, traced and carved in the somewhat heavy 
but intricate and graceful designs of the Spaniards ; 
while the chandelier is a pure and good example of 
eighteenth century work. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 87 

The saddest and most fascinating things about 
the old church are the constantly recurring mural 
tablets. Sometimes sacred to the memory of one, 
sometimes of an entire crew ; this one erected by 
the affection of a sister, and that by the piety of a 
comrade ; four-fifths told of victims to that dread 
scourge, yellow fever. Judging by these records, it 
would seem that in the old days Port Royal was a 
graveyard for the British navy and army; a very 
plague-spot, where the hardiest laid down his life ; 
some killed by fever, some by accident of war and 
sea, some decorated with the honors they had won 
in a hundred fights, and some carried off before they 
had gathered the first flowers of fame. The costli- 
ness of many of these memorials is an affecting 
indication how precious to their families those now 
resting there once had been. One in high relief is 
a characteristic specimen of Rubillac's workman- 
ship. It is to a young lieutenant who had been 
killed by the bursting of a gun. Flame and vapor 
are rushing out of the breach. The youth himself 
is falling backwards with his arms spread out, and 
a vast preternatural face is glaring at him through 
the smoke. It is bad art, though the execution is 
remarkable. The ancient capital was undoubtedly 
the port where many of Great Britain's sailors and 
soldiers were permanently discharged, were mus- 
tered out of the service by that grim officer — Death. 
But it is also true that for years Great Britain had 
no other marine hospital in that part of the world 
than the one at Port Royal ; so the officers and men 
from infected ports and vessels in South America, 



88 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

Central America, and the Antilles were all brought 
to Jamaica to die. Vessels that had never been to 
Jamaica sent their crews thither by other vessels ; 
and the result was an importation of disease that in 
most tropical countries would ha ;e proved far more 
disastrous to the country at large ; still, these tablets 
shock the visitor. 

Though we know that things are changed now, 
and that the sanitary condition of Port Royal is so 
greatly improved that there is hardly a possibility 
of a return of the old scourge, yet one cannot avoid 
a feeling of chill and fear, almost, as he sees these 
dreadful reminders of the reign of the yellow death, 
— three and four deep, covering almost the entire 
wall space of this house of worship. In England 
the names of Port Royal and the Palisades have a 
terrible and significant meaning. They are better 
known there than any other places in Jamaica, and 
are inseparably connected with death. 

THE TOWN. 

Port Royal proper is a mere aggregation of small 
houses, not always in the best repair, inhabited by 
employees of the dockyard, or fishermen who earn 
a precarious livelihood by supplying the wants of 
the garrison with the harvest of the deep. 

The town includes the Royal Naval Dockyard, 
which contains large and spacious repairing-shops 
and storerooms, and a fine hospital. The fortifica- 
tions of Port Royal have been almost entirly recon- 
structed or strengthened within recent years ; and a 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 89 

new fort, called Fort Victoria, has been equipped 
and armed with breech-loading rifles and cannon. 
The fort has two heavy guns mounted en barbette^ 
and a number of six-inch and quick-firing guns 
mounted in casemates. In addition to this primary 
armament, there is a secondary battery of quick- 
firing guns, which occupy every coign of vantage 
so as to guard against any attempt at counter- 
mining on the part of an enemy who might have 
the temerity to attempt to force the passage. 
There are also other batteries besides this, of 
minor account. The place is garrisoned by a 
body of West Indian troops, — infantry, engineers, 
and artillery. There are also stationed here a bat- 
tery of white troops and the various auxiliaries of 
a fortified place. 

THE EARTHQUAKE. 

There is in the British Museum a copy of an old 
broadside containing a rudely drawn representation 
of the scene, and a copy of a letter from Captain 
Crocket giving an account of that terrible disaster. 
A photographic reproduction of the cut, reduced 
in size, is printed on page 91 ; and following is the 
principal part of the captain's letter relating to that 
event : — 

Port Royal, in Jamaica, 
Sir Jime 3 o, 17Q2. 

This with my Respects to all our Friends, comes 
amidst an Inundation of the deepest Sorrow, to bring you 
the Dreadful Account of our Misery and Trouble, tho I 
presume that before this the unwelcome Tydings are ar- 



90 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

rived at your Ears, of the Dreadful and Terrible Earth- 
quake which happen'd here on Tuesday, the 7th of this 
Month. About half an hour after Eleven a Clock in the 
Morning, the Earth suffer'd a Trepidation or Trembling, 
which in a Minute's time was increased to that degree, 
that several Houses began to tumble down, and in a little 
time after the Church and Tower, the Ground Opening 
in several Places at once, Swallow'd up Multitudes of 
People together, whole Streets sinking under Water, with 
Men, Women and Children in them ; and those Houses 
which but just now appeared the Fairest and Loftiest in 
these Parts, and might vie with the finest Buildings, were 
in a Moment Sunk down into the Earth, and nothing to 
be seen of them ; such Crying, such Shrieking and Mourn- 
ing I never heard, nor could anything in my Opinion, 
appear more Terrible to the Eye of Man : Here a com- 
pany of People Swallow'd up at once ; there a whole 
Street Tumbling down ; and in another Place the trem- 
bling Earth opening her Ravenous Jaws, let in the Merci- 
less Sea, so that this Town is become a heap of Ruines ; 
Captain Huden's House was one of' the first that Sunk, 
with him, his Wife, and Family, and several others in it : 
We have an Account from St. Ann's, that above a Thou- 
sand Acres of Woodland are covered with the Sea, De- 
stroying many Plantations, tumbling down most of the 
Houses, Churches, Bridges, and Sugar-mills throughout 
this Country, so that those who have saved their Lives 
have lost all they had; I shall only Instance myself for 
one, who have lost my Ship, and very considerably other 
ways, but I am very well satisfied because it is the Lord's 
Doings. 



92 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 



CHAPTER XL 

CANE RIVER, YALLAHS, MORANT BAY, BATH, AND 
MANCHIONEAL. 

One of the pleasantest drives out of Kingston is 
to the eastward, along the shore road. As the rail- 
road does not reach this part of the island, the only 
conveyance is by carriage, stage, or steamer. To 
properly make this trip will take two or three days' 
time. The first part of the road is very level, and 
it follows the shore. Good views can be obtained 
of the harbor and the Palisades in the distance. 

CANE RIVER. 

The first place of interest after leaving Kingston 
is the magnificent ravine of the Cane River, nine 
miles distant from Kingston, and one and a half 
miles north of Seven Miles, a small village on the 
Windward, or shore road. Mules or donkeys may 
be hired at Seven Miles to carry the hamper or the 
visitor himself up the bed of the river to the cave at 
the falls. This is a journey that cannot be under- 
taken when the river is in flood, as it is then almost 
impossible to cross the rocky bed at the fordings in 
face of the swift-rushing torrents. But the river is 
only in this state, as a rule, during the rainy season, 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 93 

when open-air excursions are out of the question. 
The track along the river-bed is thickly strewn with 
huge bowlders of limestone. Gradually the bed of 
the river narrows, and the mouth of the ravine bursts 
upon the view like a gigantic doorway, flanked by 
frowning precipices of limestone rock rising for hun- 
dreds of feet above the river-bed, the impregnable 
home of thousands of orchids, ferns, and innumer- 
able creepers. In the vent-holes in the limestone 
an infinite variety of birds find a safe habitat for their 
young ; not even the nimble mongoose could find a 
foothold on the sheer face of the cliff. The breeze 
which blows through this yawning canon possesses 
a considerable degree of cold as compared with the 
radiated heat of the sand and rocks of the valley 
approaching it. Even in the hottest days of sum- 
mer, the ravine is found delightfully cool ; as, how- 
ever hot the breeze may be when it enters, it is 
immediately cooled and tempered by the spray of 
the roaring cascade some distance on. Now the 
stream becomes more rapid as the channel becomes 
narrower and more rocky. After innumerable 
windings and turnings, the ascent to the falls is made 
by a solidly constructed pathway and parapet wall, 
which pass under and through "Three-fingered 
Jack's " cave immediately overlooking the falls. The 
huge basin underneath the principal cascade is an 
ideal place for a " dip," from whence it is possible 
to pass on a shelf of rock immediately behind the 
cascade, and see the stream falling over like a huge 
mass of green fringed with silver. The cave is sup- 
posed to have been the headquarters of the famous 



94 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

Three-fingered Jack, a noted brigand, who used to 
hold up travellers on the road between Kingston 
and Morant Bay, and who committed such depre- 
dations that the government offered a reward for 
his body, either dead or alive. This was secured 
by Readu, a Maroon, who killed the robber in sin- 
gle fight, and, as a proof, brought the three-fingered 
hand to headquarters, and was granted a pension 
of £20 a year for life. These falls are one of the 
most dainty bits of Jamaican scenery, a spot to be 
enthusiastic over ; and yet few people in Kingston 
scarcely know of their existence. The falls can 
also be reached from Gordon Town in a four 
hours' ride. 

The next object of interest worth seeing is the 
Albion sugar plantation, distant about eighteen miles 
from Kingston. It was considered for many years 
one of the best and richest in the island. It con- 
tains five thousand acres, only a portion of which 
are now under cultivation. All the latest improve- 
ments in sugar machinery are in use here, vacuum 
pans and centrifugal process ; and yet the owners 
find it difficult to compete with German and French 
bounty-fed sugar. There is a moist freshness and 
a greenness in these large cane-fields that are 
sought for in vain elsewhere in the tropics. - 

At frequent intervals irrigating streams, so neces- 
sary for cane culture, flow through the broad acres 
of growing cane. Beyond these immense green 
fields are the long lines of barracks or quarters, 
painted white, and flanking the clustered stone 
and brick buildings of the plantation. Visitors are 



IT: 

Q 

> 

n 

> 

S5 




. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 95 

welcome to the estate, and every courtesy will be 
shown them by the owner or manager. 

YALLAHS RIVER. 

Leaving Albion with its living green behind, the 
Yallahs River is reached, a broad, shallow stream, 
too wide and too shifting to be successfully bridged, 
so the traveller will have to continue to ford it, and 
take the chances of sudden floods and the dangers 
attending them. When a storm occurs in the moun- 
tains, a vast volume of water rushes down to the 
coast, and what is usually a shallow stream becomes 
a raging torrent. Frequently people are drowned 
in crossing, and are caught for several days between 
the Hope and Yallahs Rivers, not being able to 
either go on or return, and that in a region where 
lodging-houses are unknown. 

Easington, the ancient capital of the parish of 
St. David's, before the parish was merged into St. 
Thomas, lies inland on the Yallahs River. It has 
a fine suspension bridge, and is reached by a very 
fair road. The court meets here twice during the 
month. Easington is one of the five principal 
towns of St. Thomas. 

A notable spot on the bank of the Yallahs River 
is known as the "Judgment Cliff." This cliff is 
the half of a mountain which was rent asunder in 
the great earthquake in 1692, that destroyed Port 
Royal. A contemporary writer says, regarding this 
spot, "A half of a mountain fell, and overwhelmed 
a plantation at its foot, at that time possessed by an 



96 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

atrociously wicked Dutchman, who overtopped the 
licentious wickedness of the times by procreating 
with his own children." The cliff rises bleak and 
bare fully one thousand feet. This spot is situated 
about two miles from Easington, along the Yallahs 
River. 

Beyond the river is the picturesque, straggling 
little town of Yallahs ; and then the salt pond is 
passed. The country then is full of streams, which 
one must ford, the water often coming up to the 
wagon hubs. Finally Morant Bay is reached, a 
small place where there is little accommodation for 
the traveller, but much to interest one, both in the 
natural scenery and sea views, and in the large 
shipments of fruit made from here. Besides this, 
there is much that is interesting to the student of 
history at Morant Bay. 

MORANT BAY. 

It was here that the first scene in the rebellion of 
1865 was enacted, as described in another chapter 
of this book. The vestry of St. Thomas ye East 
met at the court-house at Morant Bay for the trans- 
action of parochial business. At three o'clock on 
the eleventh day of October, several hundred peo- 
ple, crying, " Color for color," closed in about the 
building, and began to stone the volunteers who 
were drawn up to guard the members of the vestry. 
The Riot Act was read, and the volunteers fired, 
but they were soon overpowered. A hand-to-hand 
struggle ensued, during which Captain Hitchins, 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 97 

faint from the loss of blood, rested on the knee of 
a volunteer the rifle he had taken from a murdered 
comrade, and fired his two remaining rounds of 
ammunition. He was then surrounded, and hacked 
to death by the negroes with their machetes. All 
the officers and many of the members of the volun- 
teer corps nobly died at their post, gallantly doing 
their duty. All the custodes of the parish, the 
curate of Bath, the inspector of police, and a num- 
ber of magistrates and other personages, were also 
murdered. 

There is a riding-road along the Morant River 
to a place in the interior called Island Head, in the 
coffee region. From Island Head a bridle-path 
will take one by the course of an old road built by 
Governor Trelawney in the last century, but now 
gone to ruin, over the mountains into the old Maroon 
settlement of Nanny Town, named after the wife 
of their famous chief, Cudjoe. More will be said 
about this place in the chapter concerning the 
Maroons. 

On the way to Port Morant a charming view can 
be had from a turn in the road above "White 
Horses," a cliff which makes a prominent coast- 
mark to mariners, and where a grand ocean view, 
with foreground of picturesque rock and enchant- 
ing verdure, entices travellers to linger there. 

The nearest approach to the shipping-place of 
Bowden is first through the village of Port Morant, 
a little cluster of houses and cabins, around a cross- 
road where some great trees throw their shade, 
beyond whose trunks are vistas of white road, 



98 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

thatched roofs, palm tops, and stream. After pass- 
ing through the mangroves, it takes a sharp turn, 
then follows the curve of the hill, passes a little 
settlement, and ends at the storehouse and wharf 
of the Boston Fruit Company. 

From here or from the hilltop the view is won- 
derfully fine, and the air all that could be desired. 
Bowden is one of a number of estates owned by the 
Boston Fruit Company, which, no longer valuable 
for sugar and rum producing, are now used for 
raising bananas and cocoanuts. Captain Baker, 
the originator of the Company, lives on the Bowden 
estate ; and visitors are always welcomed by the 
genial captain, who is a genuine specimen of a 
Yankee, and a Cape Codder at that. 

Great quantities of bananas are shipped from 
this port. Many people will be met bringing down 
bunches of bananas on their heads from their little 
patch of ground on the mountain side. They are 
put into the storehouse on the wharf in open slat 
crates or bins, and then transferred to the steamers. 
It is interesting to see the great steamers of the 
Atlas and Boston Companies come into this quiet 
enclosed harbor, and transform its repose into ac- 
tivity. 

BATH. 

The road, after leaving Port Morant, branches 
off in two directions. The one to the eastward 
leads to Holland Bay, passing by Golden Grove, 
another of the Boston Company's banana planta- 
tions. In its golden days it was a magnificent 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 99 

estate, and fortunes have been made from it. The 
other road, which is by far the most interesting, 
leads to the Bath of St. Thomas the Apostle, situ- 
ated near the picturesque little village of Bath, 
where the first botanic garden in Jamaica was 
established, in 1774. Bath was formerly the chief 
of Jamaica spas, once fashionable, but now only 
occasionally visited. The road to Bath is solidly 
built, without a break or any unevenness, with 
stone culverts, bridges, rock terracing, and hill 
work all the way ; it is as perfect as possible. The 
negroes who work upon the road are small con- 
tractors. The work is done for so much per yard, 
and the workers earn from one to two shillings per 
day. On leaving Port Morant the road makes a 
sharp turn to the north. The country is richer 
and more tropical as we leave the coast, and the 
impression of lavish expenditures of energy on the 
part of nature is heightened at every step. As we 
advance, we lose, however, the bits of marine 
views that added so much to the beauty of the 
Windward road. These views are replaced by no 
less enchanting glens and ravines, into which the 
rich deep pervading fulness of sylvan life floods 
like a tide, overshadowing the road, and rolling in 
billows of verdure up the hillsides. 

The baths, which are a mile and a half from the 
town, which owes its existence to their proximity, 
are at the end of a winding road bordered with 
vines and moss and fern-covered rocks, flowering 
shrubs, trees heavy with fruit, and an atmosphere 
charged with moisture and very fragrant, like that 
of some vast greenhouse. 

LofC. 



100 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

At the bath is a building in charge of an attend- 
ant, who introduces visitors to the stone basins 
built to receive the hot and cold waters that flow 
from the hillside within a few feet of each other. 
The bath is a sulphurated sodio-calcic thermal 
spring, having a temperature of 130 F. It has 
been chiefly valued for its unquestionable influence 
on rheumatic and cutaneous disorders. 

From Bath a bridle road leads up to the weird 
and wonderful " Cuna cuna" Pass in the Blue 
Mountains, a ride of rare beauty and interest, and 
from thence descends through the region of the Rio 
Grande to Port Antonio, past the Maroon settle- 
ment at Moore Town ; or by following a road that 
skirts the Plantain Garden River, reaches Island 
Head, and from there by way already described to 
Nanny Town. All this ridge and the country 
north and east of it are of great interest to one who 
enjoys a little hardship with his travel, for it is an 
unsettled and untravelled country 

MANCHIONEAL. 

From Bath to Manchioneal the way is more level, 
passing through bottomlands and meadows that are 
like those of Old England. 

Bath and Manchioneal were both scenes of the 
great atrocities of the insurrection of Governor 
Eyre's time. On the beach in front of the little 
dingy lodging-house at Manchioneal, there are a 
large number of negroes interred that were exe- 
cuted at that time. To the right are the clean, 



JAMAICA GUIDE. IOI 

bright-looking buildings of the constabulary station 
and the church. To the left a high bluff hides the 
road that leads to Port Antonio, which winds with 
the turnings of the coast-line, and constantly affords 
surprises and scenes of rich beauty. Deep bays 
and inlets, beaches where the water breaks in a 
long surf, headlands crowned with foliage, — all 
afford satisfaction to the eye. Here is Innes' Bay, 
a deep indentation in the coast; there Fairy Hill 
Bay, with its extensive outlook each way over the 
ocean ; then Priestman's River is crossed, deep at 
the mouth as it debouches into its little harbor ; and 
the exquisite "Blue Water," whose turquoise shades 
into amethyst in the shadows over which the bend- 
ing trunks and swaying tops of a hundred cocoanut- 
trees cast their reflections. All through this region 
are scattered scenes of rare beauty. At intervals 
pens are passed where cattle are grazed, and what 
were formerly sugar estates are now converted into 
pasturage for horses and cattle. 

But in spite of its beauty, its natural fertility, its 
advantageous situation, its grazing pens, and vil- 
lages, Eastern Portland gives the impression of des- 
olation. Mile after mile of unused, unredeemed 
acres, once flourishing with cane, but now given 
over to wild growths, sadden even the most opti- 
mistic observer. In legal parlance, this whole 
section is in ruinate. 

As Port Antonio is approached, a great change 
comes over the scene. Everywhere one sees 
increasing evidence of prosperity; a new life 
appears to animate the scene ; decay is arrested ; 



102 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

the waste acres are taken up, and planted with 
fruit. We are coming now to the headquarters 
of the Boston Fruit Company, and the termination 
of the Port Antonio branch of the railway. The 
banana has taken the place of the sugar-cane ; the 
old order of things has changed for the new. 

Port Antonio has one of the finest harbors On the 
coast. It is so land-locked that navigators strange 
to the locality sometimes find it difficult to distin- 
guish the entrance to the harbor. The fort and 
barracks, now used for a school, are conspicuous 
objects from the offing. Vessels approaching from 
the eastward sometimes mistake the remains of 
some old sugar-works at Anchovy for them ; but, 
by running along the land, the place, when once 
opened, cannot be mistaken. A lighthouse, which 
was erected on Folly Point in 1888, has been a 
great aid to navigation. 

Port Antonio and its vicinity will be more fully 
described in another chapter in this work, giving 
a description of the approach to it by railway. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 103 



CHAPTER XII. 



SPANISH TOWN. 



The two most ancient and historical places in 
the vicinity of Kingston are Spanish Town and 
Port Royal. Spanish Town is distant from Kings- 
ton about thirteen miles, and is connected by rail- 
way. The town was founded by the Spaniards about 
1523, and was called by them St. Jago de la Vega, 
which was anglicized into Spanish Town. As was 
usual, in Spanish Town a square, or plaza, was laid 
out, around which the public offices were grouped. 
On the west side of the square stands the old official 
residence of the governors of Jamaica, now un- 
occupied, but kept in repair. On the east is the 
Record Office, in which are deposited copies of all 
official records and land titles. In this building the 
old House of Assembly used to hold its sessions. 
On the north side of the square stands the elegant 
and artistic "Temple," erected in honor of Rod- 
ney's great victory off Dominica, April 12, 1782, 
where he defeated the French fleet under Count 
de Grasse. The French admiral, fresh from his 
victory at Yorktown, refitted at Martinique, then 
intended to join the Spaniards, capture Jamaica, 
and drive the English out of the West Indies. All 
the Antilles except St. Lucia were already his ; 



104 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

there alone the English flag still flew, as Rodney 
lay in the harbor of Castries, watching for the de- 
parture of the French fleet. At last the welcome 
sign was given ; the French fleet had sailed, and 
was becalmed under the high lands of Dominica. 
In number of ships the fleets were equal ; in size and 
complement of arms, the French were immensely 
superior. Moreover, they had twenty thousand sol- 
diers on board, to be used in the conquest of Jamaica. 
Defeat at this moment would have been England's 
irreparable ruin ; and the English admiral was 
aware that his country's fate was in his hands. It 
was one of those supreme moments which great 
men dare to use, and weak men tremble at. 

Rodney led in person on his flag-ship, the For- 
midable. He immediately engaged the Glorieux, 
a seventy-four, at close range. He shot away her 
masts and bowsprit, and left her a bare hull. He 
then went about, and came yard-arm to yard-arm 
with the superb Ville de Paris, the pride of France, 
and the largest ship in the world, on which De 
Grasse commanded in person. All day long the 
cannon roared ; and one by one the French ships 
struck their flags, or fought on till they sank. The 
carnage on board them was terrible, crowded as 
they were with troops for Jamaica. Fourteen thou- 
sand were reckoned as killed, besides prisoners. 
The Ville de Paris surrendered last, fighting des- 
perately after all hope was gone. De Grasse gave 
up his sword to Rodney on the Formidable's quar- 
ter-deck, and Yorktown was avenged. So on that 
memorable day Jamaica and the English empire 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 05 

were saved. Peace followed, but it was with honor. 
The American colonies were lost, but England kept 
Gibraltar and her East and West Indian colonies. 
The hostile strength of Europe and her revolted 
colonies had failed to wrest Britannia's ocean scep- 
tre from her. She sat down maimed and bleeding, 
but the wreath had not been torn from her brow ; 
she was, and still is, sovereign of the seas. Is it 
any wonder that Jamaica honors Rodney, and con- 
siders him her saviour? The Temple contains a 
splendid marble statue of the admiral by Bacon ; it is 
generally conceded to be a masterpiece of the sculp- 
tor's art. The statue is flanked by two magnificent 
brass eighteen-pounders captured on the Vill'e de 
Paris. There are also two bomb mortars of bronze 
which were taken from the same vessel. For a 
century Rodney's statue has kept watch and ward 
over the affairs of Spanish Town, till it grew to 
have a more than educational significance. Peo- 
ple spoke of it as a person, and regarded it as a 
tutelary deity. More than all, they had an affec- 
tion for it. Judge, then, what the feelings of the 
people must have been when Rodney was removed 
to Kingston, and set up in the market-place there, 
with his face to the sea. There was mourning; 
houses were hung with black ; a mock funeral was 
held, and a coffin containing the effigy of the lost 
admiral was placed in the empty Temple. The 
authorities feared a riot. They had taken away 
the government, they had destroyed the prestige of 
the place, they had robbed it of its business, and 
now they added insult to injury by carrying off 



1 06 ST A RK >S ILL USTRA TED 

Rodney. There Spanish Town drew the line. It 
refused to be parted from its idol ; and the admiral 
once more stands on his pedestal in the Temple, his 
captured cannon at his feet, and the plaza of Spanish 
Town under his eagle eye. 

On the south side of the square is a fine old 
building, which contains the court-room, town hall, 
savings-bank, and parochial board offices. 

The garden in the centre of the square is beauti- 
fully laid out with a profusion of tropical flowers 
and shrubs, which are watered by the fountain 
within the enclosure. 



THE CATHEDRAL. 

The Cathedral is a building rich in historic asso- 
ciations. It is supposed to stand on the foundations 
of the Spanish Church of the Red Cross, which, 
together with an abbey and another church called 
the White Cross, was destroyed by the English Puri- 
tan soldiers when the town was captured by Vena- 
bles in May, 1655. The present building takes the 
place of the earlier one, built in the reign of Queen 
Anne, which was destroyed by the hurricane of 
17 12. The church is built of brick, in the form 
of a Latin cross, and has a tower at the west end. 
Some of the monuments, tablets, and slabs are 
older than the church, and are extremely interest- 
ing. There is one to the memory of three of a 
family named Assam, who had for their crest three 
asses engraven on the stone. Another makes it 
appear that an eminent man, Colbeck of St. Doro- 



to 

c 

Q 




JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 07 

thy, died " amid great applause." The most inter- 
esting one to Americans is in the churchyard. It 
is a large white marble slab, and contains the fol- 
lowing inscription : — 

IN MEMORY OF 

GEORGE WASHINGTON REED 

Master Commander in the Navy of the 

United States. 

Born at Philadelphia, May 26th, 1780. 

Captured in the U. S. Brig of War Vixen, under his command, 

by H. B. M. Frigate Southampton. 

He died a prisoner of war at this place, 

JANUARY 4TH, 1813. 

Unwilling to forsake his companions in captivity, he 

declined a proffered parole, and sunk 

under a tropical fever. 

THIS STONE 

Is inscribed by the hand of affection as a memorial of his 

virtues, and records the gratitude of his friends 

for the kind offices which in the season of 

sickness and hour of death he 

received at the hands of 

a generous foe. 

The interior of the church presents a graceful 
aspect. It has a beautiful east window, and several 
admirably executed pieces of sculpture by Bacon ; 
the most striking of these being those erected to the 
memory of the Earl and Countess of Effingham, Sir 
Basil Keith, Major-General Selwyn and the Count- 
ess of Elgin, and Lady Williamson. 

Spanish Town possesses a good almshouse, hos- 
pital, market, record office, and constabulary depot. 
Its streets are well paved and clean, its houses 



108 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

attractive, though not different from those of most 
other West Indian towns ; its population is about six 
thousand. It is situated six miles from the sea, on 
the banks of the Rio Cobre, a beautiful stream of 
considerable volume. Four miles from town the 
river is dammed for the purpose of irrigating the 
plains of St. Catherine ; here the water glides over 
a slope, making a most beautiful waterfall. The 
water of the canal finds its way by pleasant banks, 
under picturesque bridges, and beneath long, even 
rows of bending cocoanut-trees, to smaller channels, 
until at last its ramifications reach through grazing- 
pens, fruit-cultivating and sugar-estates, fertilizing 
and enriching all that section of country. 

A little way beyond the dam will be seen traces 
of an ancient avenue of tall trees, at the end of 
which is a ruin overgrown with trees and under- 
brush. This ruin is said to be that of the residence 
of the last Spanish governor of the island, who fled 
from here when the island was taken by Admirals 
Penn and Venables in Cromwell's time. Few places 
in Jamaica are more beautiful, and few will better 
repay a visit, than Bog Walk, one of the most pic- 
turesque spots on the island. The Bog Walk is a 
gorge through which the Rio Cobre flows towards 
the sea. In the drive along the banks of the Rio 
Cobre, through the Bog Walk, there is seen every- 
thing that makes scenery lovely, — wood, water, 
rocks, and the wildest luxuriance of tropical foli- 
age, mingled and arranged by the artistic hands 
of Nature in one of her happiest moods. All this 
is surrounded by lofty and abrupt precipices, with 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 109 

a background of the most brilliant hue, illuminated 
by the brightest of suns, tempered usually by a 
gentle breeze, which ripples the surface of the 
water. As you pass out of the Bog Walk, the 
sides of the ravine become less precipitous, and 
are clothed with all kinds of tropical trees, such as 
bread-fruit, bamboos, and vast quantities of flower- 
ing orchids. 

Among other places of interest in the vicinity of 
Spanish Town are Port Henderson, with its mineral 
springs and bath ; and on the hill is Rodney's look- 
out, from which the admiral " watched the adjacent 
sea ; " the Vale Guanaboa, Old Harbor, the Great 
Salt Pond, Apostles' Battery, Fort Augusta, Green 
Bay, and Passage Fort, where the English con- 
querors first landed. 

Near Spanish Town are situated some of the 
most scientifically worked sugar-plantations on the 
island, such as Ewing's, Caymanas, and Busby 
Park. Near the railway station are the West Indian 
Chemical Works, where dyes are extracted from 
logwood, fustic, and other woods. This manufac- 
tory and the Rio Cobre Hotel were both established 
through the instrumentality of Mr. T. L. Harvey, 
solicitor, one of the most public-spirited men on the 
island and a great believer in the future of Jamaica. 
Mr. Harvey recognized the fact that good hotel 
accommodations are among the first requisites to 
make the island, with its many natural attractions 
and equable climate, a popular winter resort; and 
the well-kept, comfortable Rio Cobre Hotel is al- 
ways appreciated by tourists. The house will ac- 



HO STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

commodate about fifty guests, and aims to give West 
Indian comfort and care with American manage- 
ment. As this hotel was built under the Jamaica 
Hotel Law of 1890, the tariff will be found on 
page 57 of this work. 

Amongst other specialties, mention must be made 
of the excellence of the cuisine at this hotel, and 
its character, and also the good attendance. In 
the season, the visitor may enjoy in perfection the 
calipever (the Jamaica salmon), brought from the 
Great Salt Pond, and the celebrated "Salt Pond 
Mutton " of the district, dressed in native fashion. 
The food put before the guests consists princi- 
pally of Jamaica dishes, which of course can only 
be prepared by native cooks. It is strange how 
little Jamaica preserves are thought of by persons 
catering for visitors. Ginger, pineapples, oranges, 
limes, guavas, cashews, mangoes, and other tropi- 
cal conserves are sought after by strangers. The 
manager of the Hotel Rio Cobre, understanding 
that visitors to the island wish to taste its good 
things, successfully makes it an object to gratify 
them. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. Ill 



CHAPTER XIII. 

MANDEVILLE AND MONTPELIER. 

After leaving Kingston, the railroad crosses 
the mangrove swamps at the mouth of the Rio 
Cobre, the trees growing in the water. Rising 
slowly, it passes through level grazing-ground 
studded with mangoes and cedars. Spanish Town 
is passed, of which only the roofs of the old govern- 
ment buildings are visible from the train. Sugar- 
estates follow, some of which are still in cultivation, 
while ruined mills and fallen aqueducts show where 
others once had been. After passing May Pen, 
with its fine iron bridge, and view of the dry bed 
of a river that has found a subterranean channel, 
the grade then rises to higher levels, the scenery 
becomes more broken, the forest stretches as far 
as eye can reach. The glens grow narrower and 
the trees grander as the train proceeds. After two 
hours' ride the town of Porus is reached, named 
after one of the companions of Columbus, an inter- 
esting relic of the first Spanish occupation. A short 
distance beyond the small railway station of Wil- 
liamsfield is reached, the nearest town on the rail- 
way to Mandeville, although some persons prefer 
the longer drive from Porus. 

Buggies can be procured at either of these 



J 12 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

places. The drive to Mandeville is through a 
lovely hill country, and rich undulating plateau, 
long cleared and cultivated, green fields with cows 
feeding on them, with pretty houses standing in 
gardens. The red soil, derived from the coral rock, 
denotes the best of land for cultivation. Great silk- 
cotton trees tower up in lonely magnificence, the 
home of the dreaded Jumbi, so feared by the ne- 
groes. Almonds, cedars, mangoes, and gum-trees 
spread their shade over the road. Orange-trees 
are seen everywhere, sometimes in orchards, some- 
times growing at their own wild will in hedges 
and copse and thicket. As the town is approached, 
the houses become more numerous, the outskirts 
having every appearance of an English village. 
The similarity is even greater when the centre of 
the town is reached, which is built around a square 
containing several acres of grassy common in 
which the silk-cotton and the mango grow instead 
of the elm. In the centre of the square stands 
the court-house ; and facing it, on the other side of 
the green, is the parish church, with its low square 
tower, in which hangs an old peal of bells. On the 
left is the Brooks Hotel, recently enlarged and im- 
proved. Also several shops and a blacksmith forge 
and shed ; this latter, with the market-place, makes 
the resemblance to an English village complete. 
Mandeville, on its table-land, is at an elevation of 
2,500 feel above sea level, and the mountain air 
is consequently at all seasons of the year of a cool 
and bracing character ; and is as charming a place 
to the eye as it is beneficial to the senses. It is an 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 113 

extremely pretty and picturesque little town, and 
its appearance is considerably enhanced by the 
general aspect of neatness and prosperity which 
pervades the place. 

Mandeville is the centre of a district famous for 
its cattle as well as for its fruit, and has excellent 
grazing-grounds. The pride of Mandeville is in 
its oranges ; they are the best grown in Jamaica. 
Fortunes larger than were ever made by sugar 
wait for any man who will set himself to work 
growing oranges, and packing them with skill and 
science, in a place where heat will not wither 
them, nor frosts, as in Florida, kill the trees in a 
night. New York has already found out their 
merits, and thousands of boxes are shipped there 
from Mandeville annually. Besides oranges, Man- 
deville excels in the raising of coffee. Undoubt- 
edly coffee-growing is one of the safest and best 
industries to engage in, not only because coffee is 
non-perishable and therefore easily transported, but 
because there is every indication that the high 
prices which now rule will continue for many years. 
Moreover, on the high lands, which are best suited 
to coffee, the climate is cool and pleasant. As to 
the profits, the cost of producing a pound of coffee 
is from five to seven cents, while it readily sells at 
from sixteen to twenty-five cents. 

Mr. Wynne, an English gentleman who came to 
Mandeville a few years ago, has one of the largest 
coffee-plantations in Jamaica. As the method of 
growing coffee and preparing it for market is 
probably unfamiliar to most persons, a visit to 



114 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

this plantation will prove both interesting and 
instructive. 

In starting a plantation, the young trees are usu- 
ally set eight feet apart both ways, though some 
planters prefer to plant wider. Two years after- 
ward there will be a sprinkling of coffee, and at 
the end of the third year a small crop, usually 
enough to pay running expenses. The fourth year 
brings a full crop ; and the trees continue thereafter 
to bear for thirty or forty years, according to the 
soil in which they are planted. The coffee-berry, 
when ripe, is of a bright purplish-red color, and is 
in appearance much like a cherry. The coffee- 
kernels, like the cherry-stones, are incased in the 
flesh of the fruit. Quite a process is necessary to 
prepare the coffee for the market ; but with the im- 
proved machinery now in use, it is not expensive. 

First, the berries are run through a " pulper," a 
machine which tears off most of the pulp from the 
kernel. They are then run into tanks filled with 
water, where they are frequently agitated to wash 
off what pulp may remain on them. Then they are 
removed from the tanks, and spread out in the sun 
on great platforms made of cement, and left there 
until thoroughly dry. The platforms are called 
" patios," or " barbecues," — the former word being 
Spanish for courtyard, and the latter a term applied 
by the aborigines to the smooth places on which they 
dried their fish and fruits. 

At one side of each patio is a tight shed, and into 
this the coffee is swept in case of rain. 

The coffee, being thoroughly dry, is removed 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 115 

from the patios. Up to this point the two kernels 
which form the " stone," so to speak, of the berry, 
and which lie with their flat surfaces face to face, 
are surrounded by the horny covering. To remove 
this the coffee is run through a mill properly con- 
structed for the purpose. It is then ready for mar- 
ket ; though it is better to sort it before shipping, 
as a better price can thus be realized. This sorting, 
which grades the kernels according to size, is done 
by a very simple machine, quite similar to that in 
use by the wholesale dealers in our own country. 

Mandeville is a favorite resort for visitors and 
invalids, on account of the salubrity of its climate, 
the town being situated in the Manchester hills, 
on a plateau elevated high above the sea level. 
Some Jamaicans think it too cool; the visitor from 
the north is not apt to find it so. There are sev- 
eral boarding-houses here, but only one hotel. This 
excellent house, formerly known as the Waverley, 
now called the Brooks Hotel, is under the lessee- 
ship, of Mr. A. A. Lindo, with Miss Jane Brooks as 
manager. It has seventeen rooms, and these are 
seldom empty. It is a well-conducted house, and 
has oftentimes very distinguished patronage. The 
rates are approximately the same as those estab- 
lished by the government for the hotels built under 
the hotels law, and are given on page 57. 

Continuing the journey on the railway, through 
the beautiful mountain estates of Manchester, which 
look like English parks with their closely cropped 
grass and their picturesquely planted trees, Kendal 
is soon reached after leaving Williamsfield ; as it is 



Il6 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

approached, orange-groves will be seen on both 
sides of the line. 

Green Vale is the next station, and is the highest 
elevation on the line, 1,700 feet above sea level; 
and the delightful breezes are most invigorating 
after the more excessive heat of the plains. Green 
Vale has become the centre of the fustic trade, and 
the large yellow trunks lying around the station 
yard are fair specimens of one of the most valua- 
ble woods of the island. 

From Green Vale the line runs over the main 
ridge of the Jamaica mountains, through a rolling 
country occupied by grazing-pens. The wooded 
hills supply valuable dyewoods and hard-wood tim- 
ber. The railway now descends on steep grades 
towards the Oxford valley, which can be seen after 
the first tunnel is passed, and one mile back from 
Balaclava water is taken from a small stream called 
the Oxford River ; from there on the train runs 
towards Balaclava, skirting the hills, and affording 
a beautiful view of the valley. Balaclava is a small 
market-town, and the centre of a considerable gin- 
ger and coffee trade ; the negroes for miles around 
come here Saturday mornings in order to sell their 
produce, and lay in their stock of salt fish and pro- 
visions for the coming week. 

From Balaclava, which is 800 feet above sea level, 
the line, still skirting the hills, descends to Union 
Plain, which is a large swampy valley, quite level 
and about three miles long. At the farther end is 
situated the famous Appleton sugar-estate. This 
estate, while very small in extent of sugar cultiva- 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 17 

tion, produces what is considered the best quality of 
rum in the island. From Appleton the line skirts 
the Black River ; beautiful glades and tropical ver- 
dure delight the eye, then three bridges span this 
river. The Black River is the longest navigable 
river in Jamaica. Large quantities of logwood and 
other dye-woods are brought down the river in 
lighters ; these boats, owing to their light draught, 
are able to navigate the river for thirty miles into 
the interior of the island. From Appleton to Bread- 
nut Valley the river has a number of cascades and 
picturesque falls. The cascades on the river that 
rises at Ipswich are among the most beautiful on 
the island. The Black River abounds with alliga- 
tors, and excellent shooting can at times be had 
among them. 

After crossing the third bridge that spans the river, 
the engine once more starts under a full head of 
steam to ascend the mountains. The panting of the 
iron horse shows that it is beginning to ascend ; and 
soon the wildest region of Jamaica is reached, the 
Cockpit Country, the home of the Maroons. The 
country here consists of isolated peaks with deep, 
hollow valleys, at the bottom of which often may be 
seen a small cultivation of bananas. This section 
of country comprises an area of some ten by twenty 
miles in extent, and is one vast labyrinth of glades 
among rough cliffs, with here and there patches of 
smoother ground, and at other places, coming one 
after the other, a general collection of impassable 
sink-holes called cockpits. There are paths through 
these rocks where one can walk for miles, meeting 



II 8 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

always the same things, — cliffs, sink-holes, rocks, 
more cliffs and sink-holes, and so on. It is difficult 
to tell one point from another ; and should the path 
be lost, the traveller could wander on for days and 
days, as some have done, without finding any means 
of egress. 

A large part of the Cockpit Country has never 
been explored, nor is it probable that it ever will be, 
because the land is useless ; and one can cross the 
district from north to south and from east to west, 
and go all around it sufficiently to show that there 
is nothing to compensate for the effort, and that one 
part is quite similar to all the others. 

In all this district there is very little water, the 
rain being carried off almost immediately by multi- 
tudes of crevices and along ways through the rocks 
leading no one knows where. At long distances 
apart there are springs, or rather places where un- 
derground water courses have come to the surface, 
and almost immediately pass out of sight again. 

The whole district is one of the waste places of 
the earth, of little if any use, but interesting in its 
formation, which seems to be a decomposed lime- 
stone, broken and easily disintegrated, intersected 
and surrounded by ridges and hills also of lime- 
stone, but of a different texture and more enduring. 

The bases of these hills are probably coral reefs, 
and the rough country lying between them forma- 
tions from their sediment, deposited by the action 
of the sea ; and after the upheaval of Jamaica these 
basins of limestone gradually found drainage under 
the surrounding mountains, and this through sue- 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 119 

cessive centuries of disintegration has brought these 
districts to their present rough, almost impassable 
structure. After passing through the Cockpit Coun- 
try the railroad follows the valley of the Great 
River, on the west of which, in the parish of West- 
moreland, is a section of country known as " Suri- 
nam quarters." Here, in 1672, over one thousand 
Dutchmen settled, who came from Surinam in 
South America, but who, unlike their countrymen 
who settled in South Africa, have mixed with the 
negroes during the past two hundred years. They 
were of an industrious habit, and added greatly to 
the colony's prosperity. All of this section of coun- 
try is inhabited by their descendants. 

Montpelier station is on one of the two great 
estates owned by the Hon. Evelyn Ellis, a wealthy 
English gentleman who has built the Montpelier 
Hotel for the entertainment of his English guests 
and travellers generally. The house, which has 
only sixteen rooms, is lavishly furnished, and well 
conducted under the management of Mrs. Jane 
Stone. The business interests of this hotel, as well 
as the Rio Cobre at Spanish Town, are attended to 
by Mr. T. L. Harvey, solicitor. The rates are 
about the same as charged by the hotels built under 
the Hotels Law, as printed on page 57. 

At Shettlewood and Montpelier may be seen the 
silver-gray hides and quaint shapes of Zebu and 
Mysore cattle, imported from India at a great cost 
by Mr. Ellis. The offspring of these cattle, when 
crossed with the native animal, make about the 
most useful stock for draft purposes that can be 



120 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

desired. The acreage of these estates runs up into 
thousands, over which roam enormous herds of 
Indian cattle. Every visitor to this part of Jamaica 
should stop at Montpelier if only to see the cattle, 
the beautiful view from the top of the hill on which 
the hotel is situated, and also to be entertained 
in the most richly furnished hotel in Jamaica. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 121 



CHAPTER XIV. 



MONTEGO BAY. 



Montego Bay is ten miles distant from Mont- 
pelier. Just before coming to Montego Bay the 
view from the cars is the finest on the whole route. 
The panoramic view of the bay, town, and plain 
covered with great fields of sugar-cane, is magnifi- 
cent. The name of the town is derived from the 
Spanish manteca, meaning hog lard, owing to the 
fact that the principal trade of the town during 
the Spanish occupancy was lard, in which an ex- 
tensive business was carried on between Jamaica 
and Havana. Sir Hans Sloane states that the 
boiling of swine's flesh into lard, which was sold 
in great quantities, constituted the early distinctive 
commerce of Manteca. Montego Bay is a com- 
mercial centre, and a place of increasing impor- 
tance. A general shipping business, principally 
with the United States, has been largely augmented 
by the increasing fruit-trade ; and it is said that 
many properties in the neighborhood which had 
been considered nearly valueless have become 
profitable as fruit-lands. Besides this, the people 
are more generally employed, and are more con- 
tented. 

The chief buildings in the town are the court- 



1 22 STARK "S ILL USTRA TED 

house, the Episcopal church and Trinity chapel, 
and the chapels belonging to the Baptist, Wesleyan, 
and the United Presbyterian denominations, the 
custom-house and old barracks. The church is the 
most interesting building, on account of the num- 
ber of fine monumental marbles and tablets, which 
testify to the wealth of the planters that resided here 
in slavery days. The most noted memorial among 
these is one to a lady named Mrs. Palmer, whom 
tradition makes out to have been a Jamaican Lu- 
cretia Borgia, who poisoned or otherwise removed 
a number of husbands, and was herself put to death 
by her last marital companion. The marble of 
the tablet, which was executed by the elder Bacon, 
shows some curious markings which it is alleged 
were not apparent when erected. Round the neck 
appears the mark of strangling, while the nostrils 
seem to exude blood. But time changes all things. 
One day some one discovered records which clearly 
proved that not this woman, but another of the same 
name, had committed the deed for which for years 
this marble has blushed; and that this memorial 
was erected to a truly good and beautiful woman, 
good according to the inscription on the marble, 
and beautiful by tradition. Yet this gentle saint 
was pointed out to all comers for many years as 
an utterly depraved character, a murderess, whose 
hands had been dyed with the blood of her own 
husbands. ' 

About ten miles from Montego Bay, on the main 
road leading to Kingston, stands what was once one 
of the most costly and magnificent residences in 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 23 

Jamaica. This building was the residence of Mrs. 
Palmer, and is known as Rose Hail. It was erected 
in 1760, at a cost of £30,000 sterling, and was most 
beautifully and richly furnished. Ruin has put her 
iron hand upon the place, and the robber and plun- 
derer are fast completing what war and rebellion 
first began. A few years more and only a few 
scanty remains will be left to point out to the way- 
farer and visitor the site where once stood one of the 
most costly buildings in the island. Every visitor 
to Montego Bay should visit this famous mansion. 
The following description of the same, from the 
Journal of the Institute of Jamaica , as illustrative 
of one of the mansions erected in Jamaica during 
slavery times, will probably interest the reader : — 

" A gap through the boundary walls leads to avenues 
of trees selected for their beauty and fragrance from 
the endless variety which luxuriates in a southern clime. 
There may still be seen the cocoa with its fringy leaves, 
always graceful and always beautiful ; the giant cotton, 
the king of the forest, from whose huge limbs countless 
streamers of parasitical plants hang pendent exposed to 
the breeze ; the palm, with its slender speckle of most 
delicate green ; the spreading mahogany, with its small 
leaves of the deepest die ; and there may be found the 
ever-bearing orange, with its golden fruit and flowers of 
rich perfume. Neglect, too, has been here ; and the avenue 
once so trim and neat is now overgrown with weeds and 
bushes, so much so that the remainder of the ancient 
road can scarce now be seen. Passing about a half mile 
through the grove, you come suddenly in front of a stately 
large stone mansion, prettily situated on the top of a 
gentle slope. The first thing that strikes you is its size 



124 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

and magnitude ; the next, the imposing appearance of the 
flight of steps leading to the main entrance of the man- 
sion. These are fourteen feet high, built of large square 
stones (hewn), and so arranged that the landing-place 
serves as a portico, twenty feet square. A few brass 
stanchions, curiously wrought and twisted, serve to show 
what the railing had been ; but the few remaining are 
tarnished with verdigris, and broken, bruised, and turned 
in every direction. Magnificent massive folding-doors of 
solid mahogany four inches thick, with panels formed by 
the carver's chisel in many a scroll and many a device, 
are upheld by brazen hinges which, fashioned like sea- 
monsters, seem to bite the posts on which they hang. 
These doors are in front of the main hall, — a room of lofty 
dimensions and magnificent proportions, a hall forty feet 
long, thirty feet wide, and eighteen feet high, formed of 
the same costly materials as the doors, carved in the same 
manner out of solid planks, and fashioned in curious and 
antique forms, while the top is ornamented with a very 
deep cornice formed after the arabesque pattern. The 
floor is of the same expression, and highly polished wood. 
Three portraits in richly carved frames and painted by a 
master hand immediately attract attention ; indeed, they 
are almost the sole occupants of this lofty room, for of 
furniture there is scarcely a vestige, and the fine dark 
colored woods of the floor, base, and doors, once so highly 
polished, are now damp and mouldy. The gilding which 
formerly adorned the frames is now tarnished and dull ; 
but the pictures themselves are fresh and fair, and the 
colors are as bright and vivid as the day they came from 
the painter's easel. They form a strange contrast to the 
neglect and decay of all around, and carry the mind back 
to the time when their originals lived in the old mansion ; 
when that noble hall was filled with guests ; when the song 
and dance went gayly on ; when, instead of damp, mould, 
and decay, all was bright and gorgeous, and India's riches 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 125 

glittered in profusion round the now bare and moulder- 
ing walls. One of these portraits represents a hard and 
stern-featured man, clothed in the scarlet and ermined 
robes of a judge. Another is of a mild, benevolent-looking, 
gentlemanly person, dressed in the fashion of the olden 
times, with powdered hair, lace cravat, ruffles and shirt 
bosom, silk stockings and buckles, small clothes, brocaded 
vest, and velvet coat. The third is a female of about five 
or six and twenty ; and, if the painter has not nattered 
her, she must have been of exquisite beauty. Like the 
raven's wing is her hair, the latter falling in thick cluster- 
ing ringlets, unconfined by comb, down over her alabaster 
neck and shoulders of purest white ; her brow high and 
commanding ; her eyes are dark and expressive ; a smile 
plays sweetly round her rosy lips ; and the expression of 
her countenance is pleasant, but at the same time her eye 
and brow show great determination of character. She is 
dressed in bridal robes ; a wreath of orange-flowers round 
that fair high brow contrasts well with her dark locks ; 
while her hand, that small fairylike hand, is in the act of 
putting aside the large bridal veil thrown loosely over her 
person. The frame of another picture is there, but the 
picture itself is gone. On the right side of this hall are 
two doors leading into bedrooms. In the farther one is 
an old-fashioned bedstead made of ebony, with tall posts 
and very low feet. The wood is quite black and old, but 
very elaborately carved. This is the only object of in- 
terest. The rest of the furniture is simple and modern. 
Examining closely the floor of the dressing-room, we find 
the remains of a door which led to a subterranean passage ; 
but the passage has long since been filled up, and the 
door is firmly closed. Directly opposite to the main door 
are two others fashioned in the same costly and expensive 
manner, which lead into another hall of rather smaller 
dimensions than the banqueting hall, one end of which is 
entirely occupied by a magnificent staircase, which still 



126 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

remains, and, though neglected and mouldy, seems to 
show what the rest of the mansion must have been. Every- 
thing about it, rails, balustrades, and mouldings, is carved 
out of sandalwood. So highly polished and exquisitely 
designed is this piece of architecture, that a late governor- 
general offered a large sum (^500) for the staircase as it 
stood, to be taken down and sent to England. This stair- 
case leads to the upper rooms, eight in number ; but these, 
though well proportioned, seem small in comparison with 
the rooms below. From each end of the portico, which 
extends the whole length of the back part of the house, 
ran in semicircular shape two suites of rooms, each three 
in number. Those on the right side have all decayed 
and tumbled to ruin, and you can only trace their founda- 
tions ; those on the left are still entire, though supported 
by many a prop, while the yawning walls and gaping 
floors show the time of their fall is not far distant. The 
first of these rooms was a billiard-room, the second was 
devoted to music, and the third, and farther from the 
house, was a bedroom. These rooms were fitted up in 
the European style, with hangings, and plastered ; and 
consequently exhibit in a greater degree, by the broken 
plaster and fluttering paper, the desolation and ruin of the 
.whole place, than the other apartments, that are all ceiled 
with wood. The bedchamber still has some of its furni- 
ture remaining, — a handsome bedstead, old-fashioned, 
low, quaintly carved, with ebony inlaid with other woods, 
still remains tottering in one corner; this, with a few 
broken chairs, serve to show that time, not the robber, 
has been the spoiler here." 

By the records, in 1767, Miss Rosa Witter was 
married to the Hon. John Palmer, who named this 
mansion after his wife. This is the Mrs. Palmer 
to whom Bacon's monument is erected. The fol- 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 27 

lowing account of the second Mrs. Palmer, whose 
character and conduct are the subject of this sketch, 
has been collected from the most authentic sources, 
and is probably as near a correct statement of the 
facts of the case, which occurred over one hundred 
years ago, as it is now possible to obtain. 

Mr. Palmer, after the death of his wife, became 
infatuated with a handsome Irish immigrant girl, 
who had successively become the wife of three 
husbands whom she had secretly got rid of. It is 
stated she poisoned her first husband, aided by her 
paramour, a negro, whom she flogged to death to 
close his lips ; again married, poisoned her second 
husband, whose death she hastened by stabbing him 
with a knife ; married her second paramour, a me- 
chanic, "a rude and unlettered man, with whom 
she had constant quarrels," and who disappeared 
mysteriously. Mr. Palmer became her fourth hus- 
band ; and she is said to have worn, with her wed- 
ding-ring, a ring with the inscription, " If I survive, 
I will have five." The history of this woman is a 
narration of licentious cruelty ; it is related that 
she tortured her slave girls who served her by mak- 
ing them wear shoes, the wooden soles of which 
were charged with blunted pegs on which they were 
obliged to stand ; that she punished them with a 
perforated platter that drew blood ; that, becoming 
jealous of a beautiful colored girl, the mistress of 
John Rosa Palmer, her step-son, she had the slave 
girl sentenced to death under the law of those times 
that gave plantation courts the power of inflicting 
death and bodily mutilation. This girl, like Abra- 



128 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

ham's Hagar, displeased her mistress, but was not 
thrust into a desert to perish. From the planta- 
tion dungeon she was led out to be strangled in 
the plantation yard, and to have her head struck off 
in the presence of the plantation gangs, and deliv- 
ered into the hands of Mrs. Palmer for preservation 
as a malignant trophy. She put it in spirits, and 
exhibited it to her friends who might visit her, say- 
ing, "Look at the pretty creature." Mr. Palmer 
found by the humiliations he suffered by her secret 
licentiousness and by her ceaseless cruelties to her 
slaves, that she could kill by breaking hearts as 
well as by the administration of poison. He settled 
Palmyra, the adjoining estate, upon her, and left her 
there to end her dissolute life, which soon came to 
an end by her being killed by her slaves, who were 
alternately the companions of her orgies and the 
victims of her morning remorse. On the floor of 
Palmyra Hall the stains of her blood existed for 
years. Mr. Palmer on his death-bed disclosed to 
the Rev. Mr. Record his complicity in his wife's 
murder, — that during his absence from the estate, 
he caused his slaves to rid him of the woman whose 
life of secret profligacy and open cruelty were an 
unendurable infliction. 

There are many pleasant drives and interesting 
places to visit in and around Montego Bay. Lucea 
is reached by the shore road ; it is a beautifully sit- 
uated town of nearly two thousand inhabitants. Its 
harbor is deep, almost a circular basin, much nar- 
rower at the entrance than inside. The business 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 29 

buildings are near the shore, while above them on 
the hills are pleasant residences and picturesque 
grounds. Here also is a fine old church, and old 
Fort Charlotte, at the entrance to the harbor, now 
converted into a police-station. There are several 
lodging-houses in Lucea where travellers can be 
accommodated. The mountains around Montego 
Bay were the scene of a long and bloody struggle 
with the Maroons, who were eventually subdued 
by the importation of bloodhounds from Cuba to 
hunt them down. Ruins of fine old barracks in a 
delightfully healthy situation are still to be seen at 
Maroon Town, about fourteen miles from Montego 
Bay. The empty window frames and crumbling 
walls surround the level, green parade-ground that 
once resounded with the clatter of hoofs, the clash 
of accoutrements, and the hoarse word of com- 
mand, all calling up the ghastly tragedies which 
were once enacted within the defiles of these hills, 
now so silent and peaceful. 

There are several good lodging and boarding 
houses at Montego Bay. The two best are the 
Harrison Hotel on Union Street, and Miss Emily 
Payne's. The fare here is good, and the houses 
quiet and homelike. Miss Emily Payne's is one 
of the best lodging-houses on the island, and is the 
oldest in Montego Bay ; the house is pleasantly 
situated in the centre of the town. Both of these 
houses are frequented by the best people that visit 
this part of the island. The rates are 6s. to 85. per 
day, and £1 105. to £2 per week. 

Dr. McCatty's sanatorium for invalids is one of 



130 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

the pleasantest and best in Jamaica. It is situated 
on high land on the shore, and its windows over- 
look the harbor ; and from its vantage above heat 
or the night dampness of the lower lands, and its 
excellent bathing facilities, together with the attend- 
ance of Dr. McCatty, one of the most noted phy- 
sicians on the island, it is truly an ideal place for 
invalids. Patients suffering from Bright's disease, 
dyspepsia, and nervous prostration will especially 
receive great benefit here. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 131 



CHAPTER XV. 

moneague, ocho rios, roaring river, and 
st. ann's bay. 

St. Ann is the most lovely and fertile parish on the 
island. It is known as the " garden of Jamaica." 
A recent writer describing it says, " Earth has 
nothing more lovely than the pastures and pimento 
groves of St. Ann ; nothing more enchanting than 
its hills and vales, delicious in verdure and redolent 
with the fragrance of spices ; embellished with 
wood and water from the deep forests from whence 
the streams descend to the ocean in falls ; the blue 
haze of the air blends and harmonizes all into 
beauty." St. Ann is all it is here described, and 
much more than it is possible for the writer to 
delineate. The best way to reach St. Ann from 
Kingston is to take the train for Ewarton. At Bog 
Walk the train leaves the main line, and proceeds 
in a northerly direction ; before reaching Ewarton 
another branch proceeds in a northeasterly direc- 
tion to Port Antonio. Ewarton is the terminus of 
the Ewarton branch. From here the traveller will 
go by buggy to Moneague, over Mount Diabolo, a 
distance of nine miles. The drive is a delightful 
one for the entire distance. The mountain road is 
splendid, all that could be desired; parapet walls 



132 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

protect it at the most dangerous parts, and it is hard 
and smooth all the way. Nearing Charlemont a 
magnificent prospect opens to the eye ; on the right- 
hand side of the road is stretched out, hundreds of 
feet below, the valley of St. Thomas ye Vale, dotted 
here and there with the residences of the rich plan- 
ters and penkeepers of the district. All along the 
road, which for a considerable part of the way 
winds around the steep side of the hill, orchids, 
ferns, and wild flowers of every variety, may be 
seen growing in the richest profusion. Nearing 
Moneague the country has a park-like appearance ; 
the town itself is a pretty hamlet surrounded by 
some of the richest pasture-land on the island. 
There are very few places in Jamaica where the 
climate and scenery are superior to Moneague. A 
few gentlemen of the parish, availing themselves of 
the provisions of Law 27 of 1890, formed themselves 
into a company, and purchased in that year the 
greater part of a property called Rose Hall, lying 
just beyond the village, on which they have built a 
fine hotel. The building stands on an eminence 
commanding charming views in every direction. 
This is the only hotel of those built under the Hotels 
Laws of 1890 which is not placed in the lowlands, 
being 950 feet above the sea. For rates, see page 
57 of this work. 

Visitors should make this hotel their headquarters 
while visiting St. Ann. The chief attraction here, 
besides its cool climate, are the magnificent drives, 
which include in their circuit Fern Gully, Ocho 
Rios, Roaring River Falls, St. Ann's Bay, and 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 33 

Claremont. No visitor should forego a trip through 
the Fern Gully. It is distant from Moneague about 
nine miles, and is four miles in length. The scen- 
ery through this ravine is unique, and can be sur- 
passed by but few other places in the world. It is 
from forty to fifty feet in width, just wide enough 
for a good road ; the sides rise perpendicular to a 
height of hundreds of feet ; only the noonday sun 
penetrates to the road. The steep rocks on each 
side are literally covered with the loveliest of ferns, 
which grow in the richest profusion. Tree-ferns 
of magnificent proportion, as well as the tiniest and 
most delicate specimens, are seen. The forest trees, 
too, are laden with orchids and with long creepers, 
which descend from the branches thirty feet or more 
to the surface below. Less than a mile beyond this 
romantic spot is the pretty little village of Ocho Rios, 
or eight rivers ; Chereras, the Spaniards called it, 
the Bay of the Waterfalls, a name certainly as de- 
scriptive as it is poetic. The harbor is considered 
a good one, and the trade of the place as a shipping- 
port is said to be on the increase. 

The coast road passes through the village, and 
here fresh scenes arrest the attention of the traveller. 
By following the seacoast for a distance of four miles 
the famous Roaring River cascades are reached. 
The road for the greater part of the distance is 
nothing more than a shelf cut out of the rocky sides 
of the hills, shaded by magnificent trees on one side, 
and many feet below is seen the transparent water 
of the ocean. Several of the eight rivers are passed 
as they rush foaming down to the sea ; the principal 



134 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

one, Roaring River, is crossed near its mouth, where 
a grove of cabbage palms, banyans, and other trees 
grow beside or in the dozen or more little rills which 
are united both above and below the bridge. The 
falls are approached through a heavy wood, and are 
framed like a picture by the green branches. The 
stream is here nearly a hundred feet wide, and it 
falls in exquisite shapes down the rocky wall, which 
rises nearly as high. Here are seen as many forms 
of cascades as a fantastic waterway is capable of 
assuming in such a tumultuous tumble. 

This river rises, or rather appears, about two 
miles from the sea. The flow of water at the head 
shows clearly that it is not a spring, but a large 
stream, already formed and flowing in an unob- 
structed channel beneath the surface ; and it is a 
singular fact that the volume of water is seldom 
affected by either floods or drought. It is never dry, 
indicating a drainage of a large area of limestone, 
probably the Cockpit Country and Dry Harbor Dis- 
trict; for all the water in that section passes into 
sink-holes, and from thence into some subterranean 
river. The water is full of lime and silica in solu- 
tion ; and these it deposits in walls or layers, which 
invariably check and deflect its own flow, turning it 
to the right or left, where it industriously begins to 
build fresh dams, and seek new channels. This 
building up of lime deposits is what forms the 
waterfalls. Sticks or other matter left in the water 
are soon coated many inches in thickness with 
limestone. 

The roaring of the river can be heard for a long 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 35 

distance before it is reached. The great fall is over 
a mile from the main road, and is reached by a new 
road recently cut through the woods. A small fee 
is charged for the purpose of keeping the road in 
repair, as it passes through private grounds. The 
falls are probably 150 feet in height and 175 in 
breadth, and are the largest in the island. There 
is not one continuous sheet of water, but a myriad 
of small cascades, feathery and brilliant, massed 
together, clustered, glancing at a hundred different 
angles, breaking into a thousand foam-jets, each 
curtained with an iridescent veil of falling water, 
which almost seems to drip from the branches of 
the trees that form the foreground, growing up in 
midstream. 

The habit that this eccentric stream has of throw- 
ing out terraces, ridges, and dams, instead of cut- 
ting away the soil or rock as other streams do, is 
the cause of the bold promontory from which it 
falls. It has been built inch by inch, and is still 
building, a living monument to nature's originality. 

Roaring River has created for itself a veritable 
fairyland, and it can truly be said it is one of the 
loveliest objects in this land of beautiful things. 
Every visitor before leaving the river should enjoy 
the luxury of a bath in its cool waters. 

Three miles beyond Roaring River is the busy 
little town of St. Ann's Bay, the seat of government 
for the parish. It has a population of about 2,000, 
with a harbor open to the north, and a number of 
wharves, a street parallel to the harbor, connected 
by cross streets with another farther away, in which 



136 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

lie the principal dry-goods and hardware stores. 
There is a neat little church, and the public offices 
are striking buildings. Cocoanut palms and trop- 
ical vegetation are seen everywhere. 

About a mile to the west of St. Ann's Bay is the 
site of the Spanish capital of the island, " Sevilla 
d' Oro " (Golden Seville), founded by Don Juan 
d' Esquivel, the first Spanish governor of Jamaica. 

It seems almost incredible that in the early days 
there should have sprung up here, in what was an 
unknown wilderness, a city of which we read that 
the pavements of its cathedral extended two miles ; 
that its theatres and palaces were splendid, and its 
monastery world-renowned, within whose walls the 
name of Peter Martyr was potent. 

In 1554 the city was attacked and completely 
sacked by French pirates, and most of its splendid 
edifices razed to the ground. Little or no trace 
now remains of this wealthy city save a few sculp- 
tured stones and ruined walls. 

About ten miles farther along the coast is Run- 
away Ba}^, where Sasi, the last of the Spanish gov- 
ernors, after a desperate struggle with Cromwell's 
troops, managed to make his escape to Cuba. 

The next place of interest is Dry Harbor, the 
Puerto Bueno of Columbus, where he beached his 
leaky and sea- worn ships. Near here, at a place 
called Cave Hall Pen, is a remarkable cavern. 
This cave is very long, and contains two galleries, 
which branch into grottos and side aisles, in which 
there are stalagmites and stalactites of strange 
beauty. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 37 

To the east of Ocho Rios is Rio Nuevo.. It was 
here that the Spaniards made their last attempt to 
regain the island in 1657. Don Sasi landed with a 
force of 1,000 men from Spain, and fortified himself 
on a rocky eminence near the sea, which he con- 
sidered an impregnable fortress. Here he was 
attacked in the following year, 1658, by Colonel 
D'Oyley with 500 selected soldiers ; and after a des- 
perate fight the Spaniards were defeated with terri- 
ble loss of life. 

Beyond Rio Nuevo is Oracabessa Bay, where 
Columbus first landed on the 5th of May, 1494. 
This interesting little village has a good reputation 
as a health resort. Its principal productions are 
nuts, fruit, and ground provisions. The most star- 
tling effect in foliage probably that ever greeted the 
eye is that sea of cocoanut tops interspersed with 
bananas that is seen on approaching this village. 

Six miles farther east is Port Maria. This town 
has a fairly good harbor, and was formerly guarded 
by Fort Haldane, from which a magnificent view 
of the surrounding country is obtained. The fort 
is now the home of Gray's Charity, an institution 
established by the generosity of Mr. John W. Gray, 
who in 1854 1^ by will £5,000, which sum has 
now increased to upwards of £11,000. Each in- 
mate receives a weekly allowance of five shillings, 
together with wood, water, and furnished apart- 
ments. 

Sixteen miles to the eastward is Annotto Bay, 
through which the railroad passes on the way to 
Port Antonio. 



138 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

Unfortunately there are no hotels for the accom- 
modation of visitors at any of the places mentioned 
in this excursion, except at Moneague ; therefore, to 
see all the places described, it will be necessary to 
make two trips. One can be made to Ocho Rios 
and the places to the eastward, and another from 
Ocho Rios to Dry Harbor ; in either case the return 
trip should be made from St. Ann's Bay, over Bolt 
Hill, through the pimento groves and the village of 
Claremont. Some of the finest estates and pens in 
St. Ann are passed in going over this road to Mo- 
neague. The country is highly cultivated, and has 
all the outward, visible signs oi prosperity in its 
rolling fields and the green of its perfect verdure. 
The land is moderately hilly, and is abundantly 
watered by streams of exquisite beauty. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 139 



CHAPTER XVI. 



PORT ANTONIO. 



The Port Antonio branch of the Jamaica railway 
is the latest extension of the line. It begins at a 
point nine miles from Bog Walk, and runs to Port 
Antonio via Annotto Bay, a distance of forty-six 
miles. The line passes through the fruit region of 
Jamaica, and the carrying of that produce will con- 
stitute much of the traffic of the line. 

The ride to Bog Walk from Kingston requires no 
comment, as it has been previously described. Be- 
tween Bog Walk and Richmond some beautiful 
glimpses are caught of the mountains, with their 
sides clothed with vegetation, and the fruitful val- 
leys lying at their feet ; but one of the chief features 
of this part of the line is the number of tunnels. In 
no other part of the world, except in crossing the 
Apennines, has the writer seen so many tunnels in 
such a short distance. No sooner are you out of 
one than you are into another ; there are upwards 
of thirty on this extension. The whole line is full 
of sharp curves ; and even the inside of the tunnels 
is quite serpentine in their windings, and the travel- 
ler must often wonder how the train manages to 
keep the rails. As the engine and cars rush through, 
it is curious to note the number of moths and bats 



140 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

that are disturbed, and flutter to the ground. By 
the time the train arrives at Richmond the majority 
of the tunnels have been passed. 

After leaving Richmond the village of Highgate, 
standing out prominently on the brow of the hill, is 
reached. The streams are now seen to be running 
in a northerly direction ; and the line passes through 
several fine banana groves, while here and there 
coffee- and cocoa-trees are seen. All along the 
route, however, there is abundant evidence that 
much of the land is still uncleared, and waits to be 
opened. No doubt the advent of the railway will 
hasten that process. Soon Annotto Bay is reached, 
and the view from the cars is one that delights the 
eye. The blue ocean, its waters rippled by a soft 
breeze, sparkling in the sunlight, and bearing on its 
bosom several small craft with sails spread, and the 
fine sweep of coast-line that encircles the bay, make 
up a picture that serves as a sample of what there 
is to come before reaching Port Antonio. There 
are portions of the Montego Bay section deservedly 
noted for their interesting character, for example, 
the Cockpit Country and the scene looking down 
upon the town, with tne numerous small islands 
dotting the bay ; but for a succession of sights that 
charm the eye, the line connecting Annotto Bay 
with Port Antonio is beyond all question the most 
continuous stretch of beautiful scenery in Jamaica. 

Leaving Annotto Bay, the line runs for a distance 
parallel with the sea-beach, and then branches off 
slightly, passing through some fine banana land. 
Scenes of surpassing beauty are presented by a 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 141 

small river-course, over which the train passes, its 
sides bordered with thousands of wild canes, their 
handsome arrow-heads swaying in the breeze, and 
surmounting the grasses and vegetation that grow 
in such rich profusion. Away to the south stretches 
a range of mountains, their tops tipped with fleecy 
clouds. Next comes a tract of country full of 
swaying rushes that have the appearance of a huge 
wheat-field ripening for harvest. On their farther 
edge an occasional glimpse of the bright blue sea 
is had, and near at hand are some fine groves of 
mango-trees. At another time the train passes 
through a dense thicket. The trees grow to a great 
height ; but from their topmost branches to the very 
ground they are literally covered with a mantle of 
creepers and other parasitic plants, which gives the 
visitor an excellent idea of what a tropical primeval 
forest is like. 

Buff Bay is the first station after leaving Annotto 
Bay ; and as at the previous town, there is marked 
evidence of the Boston Fruit Company in the shape 
of stores and wharves. From here on to Port An- 
tonio the line follows closely to the seashore ; at 
one point, however, it runs through a morass for a 
considerable distance. Great difficulty was experi- 
enced here in building the line on account of its 
continually sinking. As the train spins on, the 
ozone-laden breeze sweeps in through the open 
windows, giving a delicious feeling of exhilaration. 
At times the train is but a few yards from the sea- 
beach, and the very sight of the waves as they lap 
the shore serves to produce a sense of cool repose. 



142 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

The water is beautifully translucent ; and the stones 
and coral, worn by the waves into smooth circular 
shapes, are seen lying beneath the surface, and 
suggest the idea of a huge swimming-bath with a 
tessellated pavement. 

Orange Bay, Hope Bay, and St. Margaret's Bay 
are passed, the railway running through groves of 
cocoanuts and skirting plantations of bananas, and 
all the time remaining near the sea-coast. The es- 
tuaries of several rivers are crossed, notably that of 
the Rio Grande, which is spanned by a magnificent 
bridge. The view as one crosses, looking down 
upon its deep, dark waters as they meet those of the 
ocean, or following its windings southward until 
lost to sight among the mountains, is one of im- 
pressive grandeur. 

St. Margaret's Bay is charmingly situated; and 
the view from the cars shortly after leaving the 
station, and taking in the sweep of the coast-line, is 
one that cannot easily be equalled. In places the 
track is cut in the side of the cliff ; and the train 
runs for some distance along the edge of a preci- 
pice, below which the waves are seen beating them- 
selves into foam. During heavy weather the salt 
spray must be blown over the passing train, and 
passengers with weak nerves may not care for this 
part of the journey. Having overcome the strange 
sensation of being suspended midway, as it were, 
between earth and sea, one is filled with glowing 
admiration at the rugged rocks and coral cliffs, some 
worn smooth by the waves, others all jagged and 
torn, but their harshness toned by the ferns and 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 143 

plants peeping from crevices, and clinging tena- 
ciously to the side of the precipice. 

Nor is the element of human interest absent; 
frequently men are seen in canoes, fishing, while 
others in the shallow waters near the shore are 
throwing cast-nets. 



WASHING CLOTHES IN THE RIVER. 



Negro huts, with wattled sides and roofs of rushes, 
and white-washed coolie barracks are passed. In 
crossing the numerous rivers, women are seen in 
the water washing clothes. After dipping their 
soapy clothes into the water, they lay them upon a 



144 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

smooth rock, and beat them with a paddle. After 
they are thoroughly cleansed they are spread out to 
dry upon the rocks. The women have their skirts 
caught' up about their hips ; and their round, well- 
shaped limbs, wet with river water, shine like pol- 
ished mahogany. 

After a four hours' run, the train arrives at Port 
Antonio. The town is some few minutes' walk 
from the station. It is the chief town in the parish 
of Portland, and as a shipping-port ranks next to 
Kingston in the whole island. It is the great centre 
and emporium of the fruit-trade, which is now the 
staple industry of this part of Jamaica. It is also 
the headquarters of the Boston Fruit Company, 
whose wharves and buildings are passed after leav- 
ing the railway station, on the road leading to the 
town. 

At no other place in Jamaica has there been so 
great a change during the last few years as in 
the village of Port Antonio. The northeastern end 
of the island comprised within the parish of Port- 
land was virtually abandoned by the whites, and 
the negroes were rapidly relapsing into a state of 
savagery again. All the great sugar estates had 
been abandoned, and were, in the quaint, terse lan- 
guage of the courts, " in ruinate," and given over 
to pasturage for cattle ; buildings, walls, chimneys, 
and aqueducts were all going to ruin, and the 
on-coming tide of foliage, like a green wave, was 
ingulfing them. Even now in Eastern Portland, 
in the vicinity of Manchioneal, the traveller is im- 
pressed with a feeling of desolation. Mile after 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 145 

mile of unused, unredeemed acres, once flourishing 
with cane, but now given over to wild growths, 
sadden even the most optimistic observer. Here 
has been a dreadful loss ; the cause of this desertion 
of estates will be noticed elsewhere in this work. 

But there comes a point where this decay is ar- 
rested, and a new life appears to animate the scene. 
The population is larger and thriftier ; the waste 
acres are taken up, and planted with fruit. Every- 
where one sees evidence of greater prosperity ; the 
old order of things has changed ; the banana has 
succeeded in supplanting the sugar-cane. This 
remarkable change commenced in 1868, when the 
initial effort was first made in fruit shipment, which 
has resulted so beneficially, not only for Port An- 
tonio, but the whole island of Jamaica. 

In a work published a few years ago on Jamaica, 1 
the author refers to the pioneer banana shipper in 
the following terms : — 

"About fifteen years ago a Yankee skipper, 
knocking about with his schooner, had occasion to 
call at some ports on the easterly part of the island. 
His keen eye looked with interest on the bananas 
that were so plentifully offered him ; and knowing 
the taste the Americans were fast acquiring for this 
delicious fruit, but which was rarely found in the 
American markets, set himself the task of devising 
means to convey the fruit in a sound condition to 
those markets. The success which has followed is 
shown by the fact that the shipment of bananas to 
America has become one of the leading industries 
of the island." 

l " Picturesque Jamaica." 



146 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

In 1887 a copartnership was formed by several 
Boston gentlemen, known as the Boston Fruit Com- 
pany. The management was invested in Captain 
Jesse H. Freeman as general manager, A. W. 
Preston as assistant manager, and Captain L. D. 
Baker as manager of the tropical division. In 
1890, after the death of Captain Jesse H. Free- 
man, the copartnership was changed into a Massa- 
chusetts corporation under the same name. Captain 
Baker — the skipper previously referred to — was 
the leading spirit in the new enterprise, and has 
stood at its head ever since, being its president and 
the manager of its tropical division, in which duties 
he is ably assisted by Mr. J. A. Jones as assistant 
manager and director in the company, while Mr. 
Preston manages the Boston division. The com- 
pany has now a capital of $500,000, with a surplus 
of $1,750,000; owns and leases 60,000 acres of 
land ; employs sixteen steamships to carry the fruit 
to the United States; and annually ships 5,000,000 
bunches of bananas and 10,000,000 cocoanuts, be- 
sides quantities of pimento, coffee, and cocoa. The 
labor on the plantation is done by both negroes and 
East Indian coolies ; some six hundred of the latter 
being employed, and more coming, for the negroes 
cannot be depended upon. Upwards of six hun- 
dred mules are daily in harness to carry the fruit 
from the plantations to the ships ; eight hundred 
head of working oxen are used for ploughing and 
other work, and a large additional number of cattle 
are kept on the grazing-lands of the company. 
Sixteen steamships of the company ply between 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 147 

Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. 
One steamer a day is despatched on an average to 
some one of these ports. They are all iron vessels, 
and are built for speed, which is a very necessary 
point in transporting fruit. Until recently the car- 
rying of passengers was a side issue ; but now four 
new steamers, the Beverly, Belvedere, Brookline, 
and Barnstable, have just been added to the fleet, 
each possessing large and elegant passenger accom- 
modations, with all the appointments of a private 
yacht. 

There are some forty banana and cocoanut plan- 
tations in cultivation ; each of these has its superin- 
tendent, while a general superintendent has charge 
of the whole. Private telephone lines connect each 
plantation with the president's office in Port Antonio, 
so that the whole business is practically always 
under his eye. There is the most perfect order 
and organization with everything connected with 
the business of this company. The growth of the 
banana business in the United States has increased 
to immense proportions. Formerly a few bunches 
brought by sugar-vessels to the principal ports were 
considered a rare delicacy : now they are as plenti- 
ful in all large cities as the native fruits, and just as 
cheap ; every New England country grocery-store 
has its bunch of bananas. This growth is due 
to the substitution of steamers for sailing-vessels, 
and the improved methods of handling and dis- 
tributing the fruit. 

The Boston Fruit Company found it necessary to 
provide a hotel for the constantly increasing number 



148 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

of passengers coming to Port Antonio by their steam- 
ers. They accordingly bought the Titchfield prop- 
erty, situated on a commanding hill which overlooks 
the town and harbor, one of the finest sites imagi- 
nable. Here they have established a novel style of 
hotel, which is admirably adapted to a hot climate. 
There is a group of cottages on the top of the hill 
which constitute the sleeping-rooms ; entirely dis- 
tinct from these is a capacious dining-room, with 
convenient kitchen, while the laundry is in another 
building. A central cottage contains a parlor, read- 
ing-room, and baths. The table is thoroughly ex- 
cellent, the best on the island, being liberally supplied 
with northern products, which are brought in cold 
storage by the steamers of the company that arrive 
almost daily. The viands are daintily served by 
New England waitresses, the same as at the Hamil- 
ton in Bermuda. The rates at this hotel are from 
10s. to 125. per day. 

The harbor of Port Antonio is divided into two 
parts by a jutting promontory of coral rock, carpeted 
with green turf. On this peninsula stand the re- 
mains of a picturesque ancient fort, and behind it 
the old barracks. From the farther margin of each 
harbor the hills rise step by step, profusely covered 
with tropical vegetation, and plumed with many a 
tall cocoanut, among which the green blinds and 
the red roofs of the houses look out seaward. Be- 
hind these again mount ridge upon ridge of the Blue 
Mountain Range, right up into the clouds that hang 
about the peaks. Outside the mouth of the harbor 
white-crested waves break against the iron rock on 









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JAMAICA GUIDE. 149 

which the red lighthouse is perched. The visitor 
who arrives here by vessel will never forget the 
entrance to Port Antonio, especially if he should 
chance to arrive at early morning or towards sunset. 
The vessel comes bounding in on the swell, rushing 
apparently to certain destruction, when suddenly 
swinging under the lee of the island that guards 
the mouth of the west harbor, she glides along past 
the hotel on even keel over the unruffled surface 
of the harbor, till she anchors alongside one of the 
wharves. 

Port Antonio contains a population of about 2,000 ; 
but outside of the American colony connected with 
the Fruit Company, there are not a half-dozen white 
people in the town. 

There are many places of interest in the vicin- 
ity worth visiting, among them the magnificent ba- 
nana plantation of Golden Vale. The road leading 
to the plantation from Port Antonio is through a 
mountainous country, encumbered with some rocks 
and inequalities, and beautified by many windings. 
The country through which it passes is rich and fer- 
tile, well cultivated, and abounding with picturesque 
views. The road descends into the valley of the 
Rio Grande. This river, rising near Bath, twenty- 
five miles from the sea, flows through the heart of 
the banana country. It is the second river in size 
in Jamaica, and one of the swiftest of those erratic 
streams that flow pleasantly within narrow limits 
one day, and the next sweep down, full and ter- 
rific torrents, angry and swollen by a storm in the 
surrounding mountains. 



ISO STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

All about Jamaica the waters of the rivers rise, or, 
as the negroes say, " come down," from the moun- 
tains very suddenly ; and often travellers have been 
imprisoned for days between two torrents, on a strip 
of country where there can be found neither town 
nor lodging-house nor any shelter whatever. Cross- 
ing the river by a ford, from which a most delight- 
ful view of mountains, wooded point, and level 
mirroring pools may be enjoyed, we soon enter the 
property known as "Golden Vale," once a great 
sugar estate, but now converted to banana cultiva- 
tion. It is one of the finest estates of the Boston 
Fruit Company, and has an output of upwards 
of thirty thousand bunches annually. There are 
large herds of oxen and droves of mules, and fields 
of cane grown as fodder for the cattle used upon 
the plantation. The whole landscape is one of rich 
and perfect cultivation. Beyond the cane-fields are 
hundreds of acres green with bananas. Near the 
boundary of the old estate are the great stone build- 
ings formerly used in the crushing of cane, the 
manufacture of sugar and rum, storage and prep- 
aration of indigo. These are now converted into 
shops, depots, and schoolhouses. Most of the chil- 
dren in the vicinity of Golden Vale attend the free 
school, which is kept up by the bounty of the 
owners of the plantation. 

Upon the ruins of very extensive buildings near 
the top of the hill, once the great house of the 
Golden Vale sugar plantation, now moss-covered 
and crumbling, stands the house where the busher, 
or overseer, lives and directs. Near by, across a 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 151 

small valley, is a settlement of coolies, of whom 
there are a hundred or more employed on the plan- 
tation. 

Golden Vale is about half-way to the Maroon 
town known as Moortown ; it is reached by follow- 
ing the same road. These Maroons have lived 
here a great many years unmolested in the hills, 
enjoying certain privileges and immunities long 
ago wrested from the government, as described in 
another chapter. The Maroons have nothing in 
common with the ordinary negro, on whom they 
look down with the supremest contempt. In the 
rising of 1865 these Maroons supported the govern- 
ment, and were of great service in hunting, killing, 
and capturing the rebels ; they showed less mercy 
than the whites to the negroes that fell into their 
hands. Probably in time, with growing intelligence 
and prosperity, these people will become gradually 
merged in the common population. Farther up the 
road the wild and beautiful Cuna Cuna Pass is 
reached. Only on horseback can one advance as 
far as the pass. Having crossed it, and enjoyed its 
coolness, and perhaps a shower as well, the traveller 
descends by the bridle-road previously described to 
Bath. 



152 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 



CHAPTER XVII. 

AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE. 

Jamaica is essentially an agricultural country. 
Rum and unrefined sugar are the only articles of 
any importance that are manufactured ; and the 
latter industry is on the wane, as the profits are so 
small, owing to competition with the bounty-fed 
beet sugar. But on coffee- banana- and cocoanut- 
growing, the profit is large, and they are all pro- 
duced in immense quantities. 

In the early part of this century sugar was king ; 
and he reigned till the freeing of the slaves, and 
then came beet-sugar competition to complete his 
downfall. During the reign of prosperity, fine 
roads were built, new houses were erected, and the 
land was all cultivated ; even the rough mountain 
lands of the interior were brought into requisition, 
and an almost unbroken belt of sugar plantations 
encircled the island. The owner of a large sugar 
estate lived like a prince, for he had a princely in- 
come ; then the very acme of prosperity was reached. 

Then came a change. In 1838 the negroes of 
Jamaica, through the exertions of the venerated 
Wilberforce and other philanthropists in England, 
became freedmen. In the early years of the great- 
est reign England has known, an attempt was made 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 53 

to right a great wrong, and to set an example to 
the whole world. This brought about a most bitter 
feeling on the part of the planters. They denied 
the right of the Imperial Government to legislate 
for Jamaica, and threatened to unite with the United 
States, where they would be protected in the owner- 
ship of their slaves. 

Emancipation found the planters in a pitiable 
condition financially. The majority were debtors ; 
and the £5,853,975 sterling, awarded as compen- 
sation for the loss of their human property, was 
insufficient, as the sum went for the most part 
into the hands of creditors. They were left with 
a scarcity of labor, antiquated machinery, a poor 
market, and without resources. 

The sudden emancipation of slaves, in whatever 
country, has always been followed by a period of 
depression similar to that which Jamaica has passed ; 
but if the country be naturally a good one, it will 
eventually recover. There is no question now that 
a period of great prosperity has begun in Jamaica. 
Land has appreciated in value. The opening up 
of the country by the railway has given to the inte- 
rior districts the advantages of transportation, which 
were formerly enjoyed only by the dwellers on the 
coast. The coffee and fruit industries have in- 
creased very rapidly within the last fifteen years. 
Coffee-growing is the best of all these industries, 
not only because coffee is non-perishable, and 
therefore easily transported, but because there is 
every indication that the high prices which now 
rule will continue for many years. Moreover, on 



154 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

the high lands, which are best suited to coffee, the 
climate is cool and pleasant. As to profits, the cost 
of producing a pound of coffee is from five to seven 
cents, while it sells readily at from sixteen to twenty- 
five cents ; and strange as it may seem, the supply 
of coffee has never been equal to the demand. 

The natural requirements of the banana plant are 
totally different from the coffee-tree ; for while the 
latter flourishes in the cool mountain country, the 
former requires a hot climate, and, being an ex- 
tremely heavy feeder, will only grow in perfection 
on the rich, plain land. It is true that bananas 
can grow in any part of the island, and the small 
patches of the negroes are often seen on steep hill- 
sides and far in the interior. But this fruit is 
generally small and inferior, and the plant does 
not attain its proper proportions. The large plan- 
tations of the white men are always on the flat 
lands. 

It may be interesting to the reader to know 
how bananas are grown. After the land has been 
ploughed, which is done with a very large plough 
drawn by eight or ten oxen, the plants are set in 
straight rows, ten to fifteen feet apart, and about 
eight feet apart in the row. The plants attain a 
height of ten or fifteen feet, according to soil and 
cultivation. At the end of a year the first crop 
is ready for gathering. Each plant produces one 
bunch, after which it is worthless, and is cut down 
and left on the ground to rot. But new plants or 
suckers are constantly coming up from the root, 
and three or four of these are allowed to grow. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 55 

Thus when the first plant is cut down, another is 
nearly ready to bear, while one or two others are 
in different stages of growth. This process can be 
continued for about seven years, by which time the 
ground is so full of roots that it is necessary to 
plough it up and replant. The coolie banana cut- 
ter is very expert at his work ; he passes around 
among the plants, selects a . bunch of fruit which 
is perfectly filled out and fully developed. As it 
hangs from the plant, it is far above the reach of the 
cutter, and to bring it to the ground without injury 
requires long practice. With his machete he slashes 
the stem, cutting it about half through. The weight 
of the bunch of bananas at once causes the plant to 
bend down ; and as it droops slowly downwards; the 
coolie quickly catches hold of the stem, which 
grows from the lower end of the bunch, at the same 
moment clipping the stem at the other end of the 
bunch from the plant with one blow of his machete. 
With another sweep of the machete he clips off the 
great maroon-colored plummet that he holds in his 
hand; and as the bunch touches the ground, it is 
ready to be carted to the wharf, the whole opera- 
tion occupying only a few seconds. 

Banana-growing, if carried on on a large scale, 
pays handsomely. But as the price fluctuates much 
more than that of coffee, it has not the element of 
certainty that the latter possesses. 

There are many fine cocoanut groves on the 
island ; but owing to the long time necessary to wait 
for the first crop, not as much has been done in 
cocoanut-growing as in other industries. The trees 



156 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

seldom bear until seven years old ; but once in bear- 
ing they continue for a hundred years, and are a 
veritable mine of wealth to their owners. A single 
tree produces on an average a hundred nuts a year. 
There is no fixed season for blossoming and fruit- 
ing. On the same tree blossoms, green fruit, and 
ripe fruit can always be seen. Cocoanut-trees like 
sea air, and do not do well if planted too far from 
the coast ; but they flourish either on the hillsides 
or on the plains, and though, like nearly all plants, 
they do best on good land, they do not require so 
rich a soil as bananas. After the first few years 
they need no cultivation ; and as soon as their tops 
are out of reach, the land on which they grow can 
be put into grass and pasturage. 

Oranges grow in perfection on the higher lands, 
and since the great Florida freeze good prices have 
been realized for them in the United States. Lem- 
ons, limes, grape-fruit, shaddocks, and all kinds 
of citrus fruit, grow well in Jamaica. With more 
care in the gathering and packing, there is no 
question but that there is a great future for this 
class of fruit in the markets of the United States 
and Great Britain. 

Most excellent vegetables can be grown so as to 
be ready for market between December and March. 
Jamaica is thus capable of being made the market- 
garden of the United States during a season of the 
year in which it would have a monopoly. 

The keeping of live stock plays an important 
part in the agriculture of Jamaica. All the horses, 
mules, working-oxen, and fresh meats used there 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 57 

are produced on the island. The stock-farms, or 
pens as they are commonly called in Jamaica, 
usually comprise from five hundred to one thousand 
acres of grass land, with perhaps as much more of 
woodland or ruinate, — abandoned land covered with 
bushes and small trees. The grass land is sub- 
divided into large fields, and comprises pimento 
grass on the highlands, and Bahama grass if on 
the lowlands or coast. Guinea grass, which flour- 
ishes in either locality, is by far the most valuable, 
and grows so luxuriantly that a field of it will keep 
double the number of cattle that the field would in 
any other kind of grass. It is perennial, coarse 
and rank in appearance, but very rich and fatten- 
ing ; and all kinds of stock except sheep are very 
fond of it. 

The horses of Jamaica are generally small, but 
clean and wiry in appearance, of wonderful endu- 
rance, and show plainly their thorough blood. It 
costs about £7 to raise a three-year-old horse, while 
such sells readily at from £15 to £30 per head, 
according to size and appearance. Mules sell at 
about the same price as horses, and the demands 
for them are constant. 

Of cattle there are many breeds, Herefords, 
Ayrshires, Devons, Shorthorns, and East Indian all 
being well represented. They are bred for work- 
ing-oxen and for beef, milking qualities being little 
considered. Four-year-old steers broken to the yoke 
bring from £20 to £30 per pair, while the cost of 
raising is about £7 per head. The East Indian 
or Hindu cattle, however, bring a much higher 



158 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

price ; as from their quickness, endurance, and 
ability to stand the heat, they are the best of all 
breeds for a hot country. These cattle were first 
brought to Jamaica from Bombay by the Hon. 
Evelyn Ellis, whose magnificent grazing-farms of 
Shettlewood and Montpelier are one of the show 
places of the island. 

There are two distinct strains, or families, — the 
Mysore and the Kattewar. These two breeds are 
crossed ; and the result is a class of working-oxen 
as near perfect as can be found for the tropics, — 
active, enduring, and adapted to the climate. Many 
of these cattle are used on the Boston Fruit Com- 
pany estates. 

Not much attention is paid to sheep husbandry 
in Jamaica, and the sheep of the island do not com- 
pare favorably with the other live stock. Still, the 
price of dressed mutton is about twice as high as in 
the United States or England, and with better stock 
and attention there is no reason why sheep-raising 
should not pay as well as cattle or horses. 

Jamaica consumes a great deal of material pro- 
duced and manufactured in other countries. She 
receives most from Great Britain, and sends most to 
the United States. The import duties, however, are 
the same on goods brought from the United States 
as they are on goods imported from Great Britain. 
This rule will hold good in all British colonies 
except Canada, which has recently discriminated 
against the United States in favor of England on 
account of the hostile tariff legislation aimed against 
her in the Dingley bill. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 59 

All of the necessaries and most of the luxuries of 
modern life, American as well as English, are to 
be found in all of the principal towns at moderate 
prices. The food supply is ample and cheap, fruit 
being especially so. In general, prices compare 
favorably with those of northern countries, even for 
imported goods. The working-day for outdoor la- 
borers is supposed to be ten hours in the vicinity of 
Kingston, and eight hours in the country. Mechan- 
ics get from 25. 3d. to 55. 6d. a day; male laborers, 
15. 6d. to 25. ; and women, yd. to 15. A team of 
two mules with driver costs 75. per day. 

Much of the work, especially in the country, is 
done by what is known as "task-work," a survival 
of the slave days ; the prices of which are generally 
low. There is a great scarcity of skilled labor ; 
and although there is such a large population, the 
sugar estates and other occupations requiring a 
large amount of help find common laborers scarce, 
so much so that the government has been obliged 
to send to India for coolies, otherwise many more 
of the plantations would have long since been 
abandoned. 

CLIMATE. 

Probably there is no other place in the world 
of the same size as Jamaica that possesses such a 
wonderful variety of climate, or offers so many 
advantages for a pleasant and salubrious residence 
suited to invalids, as this island. 

The varied surface of Jamaica, with altitudes 
ranging from the levels along the sea, up through 



160 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

the plateaus of the western end of the island to the 
7,360 feet of the Blue Mountain Peaks, affords a 
range of climate which leaves little to be desired, 
provided the ability to move from one elevation to 
the other is taken for granted. 

It is true that in the months of June, July, August, 
and September the heat is great in Kingston ;' but 
residence there in those months is rendered bear- 
able and even pleasant by the constant blowing of 
the sea-breeze, called by the early Spanish settlers 
" El Medico," during the day, and the north winds 
from the hills during the night. Even at the hot- 
test season of the year the hot and sultry nights 
of the " bleak northland " are unknown in Jamaica. 
Persons resident in the island for many years have 
never experienced a time when during a whole 
night through sleep was uncomfortable by reason 
of the heat. Rather is it likely to be disturbed by 
the necessity of procuring an extra blanket between 
the hours of two and five a.m. The daily aver- 
age during the hot season is 8o° and the maximum 
87 , and the atmosphere is remarkably dry. Dur- 
ing the night the mercury goes down to 63°, and 
seldom remains over 70 . The temperature varies 
with the altitude. When a change is necessary to 
the dweller on the lower levels, a few weeks or 
days in the bracing and invigorating mountain air 
of the hills is a great recuperator. 

While the general average of temperature is re- 
markably uniform throughout the island, the aver- 
age rainfall presents phenomena which seem to be 
quite beyond the present understanding of the stu- 



JAMAICA GUIDE. l6l 

dents of meteorology. While rain may not fall for 
weeks in Kingston during the winter season, yet it 
can be seen raining on the Blue Mountain Peaks 
nearly every hour in the day. A visitor to the Dry 
Harbor mountains of St. Ann may find the inhab- 
itants of Brownstown and vicinity actually suffering 
for water ; and yet after a brief journey into the 
adjoining parishes, both to the south and west, he 
will come to regions where the red clay and con- 
trasting deep green will tell him of the almost daily 
heavy showers which render these plateaus at times 
rather too damp for comfort. 

May and October are the two great rainy seasons, 
in which months at the new or full moon it begins 
to rain, and continues day and night for a whole 
fortnight with great violence, so that the earth in 
all level places is laid under water for some inches. 

Jamaica in the past, as well as in the present, has 
suffered much from misrepresentation. To many 
people Jamaica has been considered the " grave of 
Europeans," and a passage to this lovely "Isle of 
Summer " is almost synonymous with ordering a 
coffin. The yellow fever, earthquakes, and hurri- 
canes form a slight epitome of prevalent notions 
regarding Jamaica. 

For people of temperate habits Jamaica is as 
healthy a place for residence as any in the United 
States or England. 

Dr. Phillippo, a physician of high standing, in 
his valuable treatise on the climate of Jamaica, says, 
"It cannot be denied that fevers do arise sponta- 
neously in certain localities among unacclimatized 



1 62 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

Europeans, who have most probably exposed them- 
selves to several, and generally to the whole, of the 
following conditions ; namely, exposure to the mid- 
day heat, wet clothes, wet feet, fatigue, exposure 
at night to the chills and malaria arising from 
lagoons and swamps after sunset, and, above all, 
intemperance in drink. Let him avoid these con- 
ditions, and the European will avoid fatal fevers." 
Nothing is more dangerous to health in this climate 
than an excessive indulgence in alcoholic stimulants. 
Many young men, coming out from the colder 
north, usually in the winter months when the con- 
trast in temperature is very great, find here a social 
condition among the better class of men which is 
famous for its hospitality and good fellowship ; and 
while his host, though sometimes the happier, is sel- 
dom indeed the worse for his glass, the stranger, on 
the other hand, though the last person to indulge in 
such freedom, too often attempts to vie with and 
outdo his hospitable acquaintance. The result is 
frequently an attack of " pernicious" fever, so called 
here, — a form of fever which, though not by any 
means the dreaded ' ' yellow jack," has no doubt often 
been called upon to bear that fatal malady's burden. 
A concensus of opinion, taken from numbers of the 
medical men throughout the island, bears out the 
statement that fully one-half the deaths of visitors 
or temporary residents from febrile causes can 
readily be traced to excess in liquor, or those ex- 
posures which intoxication so generally leads to. 
From the foregoing, however, it should not be 
understood that the death rate from these causes 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 63 

is common. It is only the case of a low death rate 
somewhat increased by these breaches of the laws 
of hygiene. This fact is now so well recognized, 
that the leading life-insurance companies in the 
United States allow their policies to cover residence 
in the island without restrictions or the increase of 
rates. 

Dr. James Henry Clark, a medical man in large 
practice in the Santa Cruz mountains of Jamaica, 
writes thus of the island as a health resort: "To 
any anxious to avoid a winter, or suffering from a 
tendency to bronchitis, inflammation of the lungs, 
pleurisy, rheumatism, or dyspepia, must in a vari- 
able and chilly climate, though not laboring under 
advanced disease, be confined to the house during 
a large portion of the year to avoid the almost ' cer- 
tainty of catching cold' — to all such persons I do 
most conscientiously recommend this climate. Here 
the invalid can get out every day to enjoy these 
most powerful of all tonics, — fresh air and exercise ; 
and thereby promoting appetite and digestion, im- 
part vigor and tone to the general system." 

There are several medicinal springs in Jamaica, 
some thermal and others cold, which possess ther- 
apeutic properties of no little value, and which are 
deserving of more attention than they have hitherto 
received. The most important of these, or at least 
the best known, and the only ones at which pass- 
able accommodations for visitors are yet provided, 
are the Bath at St. Thomas the Apostle, about a 
mile from the town of Bath, the Jamaica Spa at 
Silver Hill, and the Milk River Bath at Vere. 



1 64 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

The first of these is a thermal sulphur, the second 
a chalybeate, and the third a thermal saline water. 
The waters of one or the other of the springs are 
of value taken internally and applied in the form 
of a bath. The government has made grants from 
time to time for the improvement and care of the 
buildings at these baths; but there is yet much to 
be desired in the matter of cuisine, bathing facilities, 
attendance, and other things that contribute to the 
comfort and entertainment of the invalid. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 65 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE MAROONS. 

When Jamaica was conquered from the Span- 
iards in 1655, the Spanish inhabitants are said to 
have possessed fifteen hundred slaves, composed of 
native Africans, and a mixture of African and the 
native Indians, whom the Spaniards had enslaved 
when they settled the island. On the surrender of 
their masters they retreated to the mountains, from 
whence they made frequent excursions to harass 
the English. Major-General Sedgewick, one of 
the British officers, in a letter to Secretary Thurloe 
in 1656, predicts that they would prove a thorn in 
the side of the English. He adds that they gave 
no quarter to his men, and that scarce a week 
passed without murdering one or more of them ; 
and as the soldiers became more confident and 
careless, the Maroons grew more enterprising. He 
stated that they must either be destroyed, or brought 
in on some terms or other, or else they will prove a 
great discouragement to the settling of the country. 
What he foretold soon came to pass ; for in the same 
year the army gained some trifling success against 
them, but this was immediately severely retaliated 
by the slaughter of forty soldiers, cut off as they 
were carelessly rambling from their quarters. 



1 66 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

In the course of time their numbers were not 
only augmented by natural increase, but by run- 
away slaves from the English planters, At length 
they grew confident enough of their force to under- 
take descents upon the planters in the interior of 
the island, many of whom they murdered without 
the least provocation, and by their barbarities and 
outrages intimidated the whites from venturing to 
any considerable distance from the coast. 

The name maroon is said to be derived from the 
Spanish word marrano, signifying young pig. The 
woods abounded with the wild boar; and the pur- 
suit of them constituting the chief employment of 
fugitive negroes, they were consequently called 
Maroons. Their language was a barbarous mixture 
of the African dialects with Spanish and English. 
In common with all African tribes they believed in 
Obi, and recognized the authority of such of their 
old men as had the reputation of being Obeah men, 
who were sometimes very successfully employed in 
keeping the Maroons in subjection to their chiefs. 
The labors of the field, such as they were, and 
every other species of drudgery, were performed by 
the women ; for the Maroons, like all other savage 
nations, regarded their wives as so many beasts of 
burden. Polygamy, too, with their other African 
customs, prevailed among the Maroons universally. 
Some of the principal men claimed from two to six 
wives. For forty years the Maroons continued to 
distress the island, during which time forty-four Acts 
of Assembly were passed, and at least £240,000 
expended for their suppression. In 1734 Captain 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 67 

Stoddart projected and executed with great success 
an attack on Nanny Town, situated in the Blue 
Mountain range at the windward end of the island. 
Having provided some portable swivel guns, he 
silently approached, and reached within a short 
distance of their quarters undiscovered. After halt- 
ing for some time, he began to ascend by the only 
path leading to the town. He found it steep and 
rocky and difficult, and not wide enough to admit 
the passage of two persons abreast. However, he 
surmounted these obstacles ; and having gained a 
small eminence commanding the huts in which the 
negroes were asleep, he fixed his little train of 
artillery to the best advantage, and fired upon 
them with so great an effect that many were killed 
in their habitations, and several threw themselves 
headlong down the precipice. Captain Stoddart 
followed up the advantage, killed a great number, 
took many prisoners, and so completely destroyed 
or routed the whole body that they were unable 
afterwards to effect any enterprise of any account 
in this part of the island. 

This affair, however, only proved a temporary 
success ; for in 1736 the Maroons had grown so for- 
midable, under a very able leader named Cudjoe, 
that it was found necessary to send from England 
two regiments of troops, which were formed into 
independent companies, and employed with the mi- 
litia in defending blockhouses, which they erected 
as near as possible to the enemy's most favorite 
haunts. Their general plan of duty, as directed 
by law, was to make excursions from their block- 



1 68 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

houses, scour the woods and mountains, and de- 
stroy the provision gardens and haunts of the 
Maroons. Each garrison was also furnished with 
a pack of dogs, provided by the church-wardens of 
the respective parishes. These animals proved ex- 
tremely serviceable, not only in guarding against 
surprise at night, but in tracking the enemy.- The 
next year, 1737, some sloops were despatched to 
the Mosquito coast, and brought from there two 
hundred Indians. They were formed into com- 
panies under their own officers. White guides con- 
ducted them to the enemy's country. When they 
discovered a trail they were sure to track the en- 
emy to his quarters. They proved very effective, 
and were well rewarded for their services, and 
after the war was over were sent back to their own 
country. The Maroons never dared to make a 
stand, or take the risk of a pitched battle ; they 
skulked about remote plantations, murdering the 
whites by two or three at a time. By night they 
came into the settlements, set fire to the cane-fields 
and out-buildings, killed the cattle, and carried the 
slaves into captivity. They knew every secret 
avenue of the country, so they could either conceal 
themselves from pursuit or shift their ravages from 
place to place. Such were the foes the English 
had to deal with, who could not be reached by any 
plan of attack, who possessed no plunder to allure 
or reward the assailants, nor had anything to lose 
except life and a wild and savage freedom. 

The arrangements made for their Reduction, as 
previously stated, proved very successful; for so 




: ! ; iS;i!i 



I/O STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

many fortresses stationed in the very centre of their 
usual retreats, well supplied with every necessary, 
gave the Maroons a constant and vigorous annoy- 
ance, and in the end brought the war to a close ; 
for in 1738 Governor Trelawney, by the advice of 
the principal gentlemen of the island, proposed 
overtures of peace with the Maroon chiefs. Both 
parties had grown weary of the contest. The 
white inhabitants wished relief from the horrors of 
continued alarms, the hardships of military duty, 
and the burden of maintaining an army. The Ma- 
roons were not less anxious. They were hemmed 
in and closely beset on all sides, their provisions 
destroyed, and themselves reduced to so miserable 
a condition by famine and incessant attacks, that 
Cudjoe afterwards declared that if peace had not 
been offered to them, they had no choice left but 
either to starve, lay violent hands on themselves, 
or surrender at discretion. 1 By the treaty which 
was ratified by the Maroon chiefs, the Trelawney 
Town Maroons were to have fifteen hundred acres 
of land, and the other bands, of Accompong Town, 
Crawford Town, and Nanny Town, one thousand 
acres between them, which the Legislature secured 
to them and their posterity forever. Their land 
was free from taxation, and they were allowed to 
govern themselves without interference from the 
whites. The Maroons agreed, on their part, to 
deliver up any runaway slaves, "and in case Cap- 
tain Cudjoe, or any of his people, shall do any 

1 The two cuts shown in this chapter are reproduced from Bryan Edwards's 
" History of the Maroons," published in 1808. 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 171 

injury to any white person, he shall submit, or de- 
liver up such offenders, to justice." 

By this treaty an end was put to this tedious and 
ruinous contest. 

The clause in the treaty by which these people 
were compelled to reside within certain boundaries 
in the interior of the island, apart from all other 
negroes, was probably founded on the apprehension 
that by suffering them to intermix with negroes in 
slavery, the example which they would continually 
present of successful hostility might prove con- 
tagious, and create in the minds of the slaves an 
impatience of subordination, and a disposition to 
revolt ; but the future proved that it was a mistake. 
The Maroons, instead of being established into sepa- 
rate tribes or communities in the strongest part of 
the country, should have been encouraged by all 
possible means to frequent the towns, and to intermix 
with the negroes at large. All distinction between 
the Maroons and the free blacks would have been 
lost, for the greater number would have prevailed 
over the lesser ; whereas the policy of keeping them 
a distinct people continually inured to arms intro- 
duced among them an esprit de corj)s, and conceal- 
ing from them the powers and resources of the 
whites taught them to feel, and at the same time 
to overvalue, their own relative strength and im- 
portance. 

Over fifty years elapsed before there was any 
serious outbreak again of the Maroons. In the 
month of July, 1795, two Maroons from Trelawney 
Town, having been caught stealing some pigs, were 



172 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

tried by a jury at Montego Bay and found guilty. 
They were sentenced by the court to receive thirty- 
nine lashes on the bare back. The sentence was 
executed by the black overseer in the workhouse, 
whose office it was to inflict punishment on such 
occasions. The offenders were then discharged, 
and went off with their companions, abusing and 
insulting every white person they met on the road. 

On their return to Trelawney Town, and giving 
an account of what had passed, there was an im- 
mediate uprising of the whole body of Maroons. 
They complained, not of the injustice or severity of 
the punishment inflicted on their companions, but 
of the disgrace which had been put upon the 
whole body by the punishment having been in- 
flicted by the black overseer in the workhouse, and 
in the presence of fugitive and felon negro slaves, 
many of whom they had themselves apprehended. 
They sent a written defiance to the magistrates of 
Montego Bay, declaring their intention to meet the 
white people in arms, and threatening to attack the 
town on July 20. They concluded by demanding 
reparation for the indignity cast upon them by an 
addition to their lands, and the dismission of Cap- 
tain Craskell and the appointment of Mr. James 
their former agent. 

The Maroons took advantage of a very favor- 
able opportunity for their outbreak. The July 
fleet of one hundred and fifty ships had just sailed 
for England ; and they knew that very few British 
troops remained on the island, except the Eighty- 
third Regiment, which was unders orders at that 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 73 

very moment to embark for San Domingo, and 
which actually sailed under convoy of the Success 
frigate before news reached the government of the 
uprising. 

The Earl of Balcarrier, who was then governor, 
promptly decided to overtake the transports if 
possible. A fast sailing-boat was sent from the 
east end of the island to intercept the vessels as 
they were beating up against the wind and current. 
They were met off the northeast end of Jamaica, 
and orders delivered to change their course to 
Montego Bay, which was immediately obeyed, and 
it is probable that this fortunate event saved the 
island. 

The Maroons had collected great quantities of 
arms and ammunition ; their emissaries visi.ed the 
plantations, and endeavored to prevail on the 
negro slaves to join them, and by rising in a mass 
to enable them to exterminate the whites at one 
blow, as their countrymen were doing at that very 
time in San Domingo. The sudden and unex- 
pected arrival of so powerful a re-enforcement at 
this critical moment had a wonderful effect on the 
negroes. They believed Heaven itself had de- 
clared in favor of the whites, and that all attempts 
at resistance would be unavailing and impious. 

The Maroons themselves became divided in their 
councils ; many of the old and experienced among 
them, even in Trelawney Town, recommended 
peace, and the whole of the Accompong people de- 
clared in favor of the whites. The violent coun- 
cils of the younger part of the Trelawney Maroons, 



1 74 ST A RK "S ILL USTRA TED 

however, prevailed. They were inflamed with a 
degree of savage fury against the whites which set 
at naught all considerations of prudence or policy, 
and they decided to fight the Bucras. 

The governor issued a proclamation addressed 
to the Maroons of Trelawney Town, in which he 
said, "Martial law has been proclaimed. Every 
pass to your town has been occupied and guarded 
by militia and regular forces. You are surrounded 
by thousands. Look at Montego Bay and you will 
see the force brought against you. I have issued 
a proclamation offering a reward for your heads. 
That terrible edict will be put in force if every 
Maroon of Trelawney Town capable of bearing 
arms does not appear before me at Montego Bay 
Aug. 12, and there submit to his Majesty's mercy." 

On the afternoon of the 12th, orders were given 
to Lieutenant-Colonel Sandford to march with a 
detachment of the Eighteenth and Twentieth Dra- 
goons and a party of horse militia, and take pos- 
session of their stronghold. The Maroons retreated 
before them, and drew the whites into an ambus- 
cade, in a narrow pass about half-way between the 
new and old town. The regulars were marching 
in front, the militia in the centre, and the volunteers 
in the rear, when a heavy fire commenced from 
the bushes. Colonel Sandford was among the first 
that fell, and with him Quartermaster McBride 
and six privates of the Twentieth and eight of the 
Eighteenth Light Dragoons. Colonel Gallimore, 
the commanding officer, and eight of the volunteers 
were also killed, and many wounded of all descrip- 
tions. 











Surrender of the Maroons. 



176 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

The troops pushed forward, and drove the Ma- 
roons from their hiding-places; and after a night 
of great suffering and hardship, the survivors re- 
treated in the morning, and carried with them most 
of their wounded. Thus terminated this disastrous 
and sanguinary encounter, in which it was not 
known that a single Maroon lost his life. Their 
triumph, therefore, was great; and the best in- 
formed among the planters, in consequence of it, 
anticipated the most dreadful calamities. In their 
imagination they beheld all the horrors of San 
Domingo, — their houses and plantations in flames, 
and their wives and children massacred by their 
former slaves. Fortunately the negroes, on whom 
the Maroons relied for support, remained peace- 
able, and faithful to their masters. 

The Maroons retreated into the Cockpit Country, 
the most inaccessible part of the island. This 
valley is surrounded by steep precipices and broken 
rocks and mountains of great height. In the cav- 
erns they secreted their women and children and 
ammunition. From this retreat, almost inacces- 
sible to all but themselves, they sent out small 
parties of their most able and enterprising young 
men, who prowled about the country, robbing, 
burning, and murdering the whites. When any 
whites fell into their hands they killed all without 
any distinction of sex or age. Even women in 
childbed and infants at the breast were slaugh- 
tered indiscriminately. 

Colonel Fitch, who succeeded Colonel Sandford, 
perished with a number of his men in the same 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 77 

manner ; and when his remains were recovered, 
several days afterwards, it was found that his head 
had been severed from his body, and placed in the 
officer's own bowels. Thus the war continued with 
this savage and merciless enemy without any sign 
of abatement, till recourse was had to the measures 
so successfully employed against the same enemy 
in the long and sanguinary war that terminated in 
the treaty of 1738. The Assembly decided to send 
to Cuba for a hundred bloodhounds, and to engage 
a number of Spanish huntsmen to attend and 
direct their operations. They arrived at Montego 
Bay on the 14th of December. Such extraordinary 
accounts were immediately spread by the negroes 
of the terrific appearance and savage nature of these 
animals, as to make an impression on the Maroons 
that was equally surprising and unexpected. The 
Maroons now displayed evidences of terror, humil- 
iation, and submission, and solicited peace with 
great earnestness. A large party of them sur- 
rendered on condition that their lives should be 
spared, and that they should not be sent off the 
island. 

On the 14th of January, General Walpole, who 
succeeded Colonel Fitch in conducting the war, 
marched against the Maroons with the Spanish 
dogs. The effect was immediate. The troops 
had marched but a short way into the woods when 
the enemy sent in a supplication for mercy, and 
surrendered on no other terms than a promise of 
their lives. Not a drop of blood was shed after 
the arrival of the dogs upon the island. And thus 



178 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

terminated this disastrous and cruel war. After 
such a contest, carried on in such a manner, it was 
thought impossible that a cordial reconciliation 
could ever again exist between the whites and the 
Maroons. It was determined, therefore, to trans- 
port from the island all the Maroons who surren- 
dered after the first of January, except those- who 
by their repentance, services, and good behavior 
since their surrender had merited protection and 
favor ; such were permitted, together with their 
wives and children, to remain on the island. 

In June, 1796, H. M. S. Dover, with two trans- 
ports in compan)", having on board six hundred of 
the Trelawney Maroons, sailed from Bluefields for 
Halifax, N.S. Commissioners accompanied them 
with instructions to purchase lands in Nova Scotia 
or Lower Canada, and to provide them with the 
means of subsistence until they became accustomed 
to the country and climate, and they could be self- 
supporting. The sum of £25,000 was allowed by 
the Assembly for this purpose." On their arrival at 
Halifax, lands were purchased for them in the town- 
ship of Preston. At first they were well received 
by the government and the people, who thought 
they would be a valuable acquisition to the colony; 
but these views were soon changed. The winter 
succeeding their arrival was unusually severe. 
Their firewood was soon consumed, their potatoes 
were frozen in their cellars, and the supplies of 
Halifax failing, they were in danger of suffering 
from hunger. Though relieved by a liberal dona- 
tion from the public stores, they became dissatisfied, 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 79 

and demanded of the governor to be removed to a 
warmer climate. 

The white inhabitants also became discontented 
with them. They feared they would become an 
incumbrance to the Province. The Maroons re- 
fused to work or to attend Christian worship. They 
retained the custom of a plurality of wives bound 
only by consent, and refused to perform either the 
marriage or funeral ceremonies. When a Maroon 
died he was buried according to the African customs. 
The governor, too, began to be weary of his charge, 
and to repent the encouragement he had given to 
their coming to Nova Scotia. 

It was resolved to transport them once more, to 
Sierra Leone, the new British colony for enfran- 
chised slaves in Africa. Thither they were accord- 
ingly sent by an agreement with the Sierra Leone 
Company in London. They embarked at Halifax 
in August, 1800, and arrived at Sierra Leone in 
October. Thus ended the absurd plan of settling 
negroes in a cold climate, after an expenditure of 
£46,000 on the part of the island of Jamaica, and 
a great outlay on the part of the British Govern- 
ment. Notwithstanding the length of time that has 
elapsed since their deportation to Sierra Leone, 
their descendants look back with pride to the time 
when they were able to contend with the white 
man. It is also a common term of reproach against 
them that they were subdued by dogs. 



ISO STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 



CHAPTER XIX. 

INHABITANTS AND GOVERNMENT. 

When Columbus discovered Jamaica it was in- 
habited by a gentle and peaceful race of Indians 
belonging to the Arawak tribe, which still inhabits 
British Guiana. This race of Indians also inhab- 
ited Cuba, Hayti, Porto Rico, and the Bahama 
Islands. The Lesser Antilles, extending from St. 
Thomas to Trinidad, were inhabited by a race of 
Indians of entirely different characteristics. They, 
too, originated in South America, and still inhabit 
the country to the southeast of the Orinoco River. 
They were named by Columbus Caribs, meaning 
cannibals. For hundreds of years they success- 
fully resisted all attempts at invasion. Inch by 
inch and foot by foot the Caribs struggled for lib- 
erty in their mad fight for existence. It is to the 
prowess of their ancestors that the Caribs are to be 
found at the present time on the islands of Domi- 
nica and St. Vincent, while not a vestige remains 
of the more numerous but peaceful Arawaks that 
inhabited the Greater Antilles. The aboriginal in- 
habitants of Jamaica had a fixed form of govern- 
ment, simple, patriarchal, and dignified. They 
believed in a future state of existence, and had cer- 
tain quaint ideas about a creation of the world and 



JAMAICA GUIDE. l8l 

a tradition en a deluge, but had an unusually small 
element of superstition in their religion. They were 
kind to each other and hospitable to strangers ; and 
it can be truly said that the world would have been 
none the worse for the survival of this race, and for 
the extermination of some other race less creditable 
to humanity. 

Fifty years after the discovery of Jamaica every 
Indian inhabitant had disappeared. Under the rule 
of Esquimel and his successor of the same name, Pe- 
dro de Esquimel, they were swept away. Scarcely 
a record exists of the process whereby their destruo 
tion was effected ; but the terribly significant com- 
ment of Las Casas on Pedro, that he was one of the 
most cruel of those sent to afflict the Indians, leaves 
no doubt as to the nature of the awful deeds by 
which their annihilation was accomplished. Soon 
after the coming of the Spaniards the natives began 
to feel the galling burdens of servitude. They 
abandoned their habitations, and retired to the moun- 
tains, and took refuge in the most sterile and dreary 
heights, flying from one wild retreat to another, the 
women with their children in their arms or at their 
backs, worn out with fatigue and hunger, and har- 
assed by perpetual alarms. In every noise of the 
forest or the mountains they fancied they heard the 
sound of bloodhounds leading on their pursuers. 
They hid themselves in damp and dismal caverns, 
or on the rocky banks and margins of the torrent ; 
and not daring to hunt or fish, or even to venture in 
quest of nourishing roots and vegetables, they had 
to satisfy their hunger with unwholesome food. In 



1 82 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

this way many thousands of them perished. This 
effort to disencumber themselves of the Spanish 
ended in convincing them that the yoke of the in- 
vaders was irremovably fastened upon them. The 
survivors returned in despair to their villages, sub- 
mitted to the fate they could not escape, and re- 
signed themselves to servitude, — the repartimientos 
or allotment system, which distributed the Indians 
among the settlers, who used them, says Herrera, 
"in planting cotton and raising other commodities, 
which yielded great profit." When the Spaniards 
discovered Jamaica it is said to have contained an 
Indian population of sixty thousand, all of whom 
were cut off and exterminated a century before the 
English conquered the island ; yet the Spanish set- 
tlers had no sooner worked the natives to death, 
than they had recourse to the importation of slaves 
from Africa to fill their places. We are informed 
that the number of negroes on the island at the time 
of its capture nearly equalled that of the whites, — 
about fifteen hundred. When the Spaniards were 
driven from the island, they armed their slaves, and 
advised them to shift for themselves and fight the 
English. This they were not slow in doing ; and 
being probably of a mixed Indian and African blood, 
they were fierce and warlike. They took to the 
mountain fastnesses, and murdered and plundered 
the settlers. They were known as the Maroons, and 
were a thorn in the side of the whites for upwards 
of a century and a half, as is fully described in the 
chapter on the Maroons. 

The year following the conquest of Jamaica 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 83 

(1656), Colonel William Brayne arrived with 1,000 
troops, and was followed shortly after by 1,500 set- 
tlers from New England, Bermuda, Barbados, and 
Nevis. Cromwell also sent from Ireland 1,000 girls 
and as many young men. In 1660 the first attempt 
was made at numbering the people. "The relics of 
the army were put down at 2,200, and the planters, 
merchants, and others at probably as many more." 
Evidently the population during these four years 
had decreased, notwithstanding the constant arrival 
of fresh importations. It soon became evident that 
while the English and Irish settlers could carry on 
agricultural pursuits in the cool, bracing mountain 
districts, they were incapable of hard manual labor 
in the cane-growing districts in the low lands. 
Hence it became necessary to introduce a class of 
labor that could work in the fields under a tropical 
sun. The traffic in slaves and the system of slavery 
increased step by step with the introduction of sugar 
cultivation. Between the years 1700 and 1786 no 
less than 610,000 slaves were landed in Jamaica, 
of whom 160,000 were re-exported to other parts of 
the West Indies or to America. Thus more than 
5,000 were added every year to the existing num- 
ber. The reason for this large and constant in- 
crease was partly that the amount of land under 
cultivation was greatly extended, and due to the 
hard labor and harsh treatment which retarded the 
natural increase of population, and to the fact that 
the number of male slaves imported was much in 
excess of the number of female. In 1807 a law 
was passed by the British Government abolishing 



1 84 ST A RK "S ILL USTRA TED 

the trade in slaves from the 1st of March, i\ 
This was followed by the Imperial Parliament pass- 
ing the Emancipation Act in May, 1833, when it 
was enacted that on and after the 1st of August, 
1834, a ^ slaves should be free throughout the Brit- 
ish dominions. A compensation of £20,000,000 
was granted to the slave-holders, the grandest and 
noblest act done by any nation in the history of 
the world. The Jamaica slave-owners were paid 
£5 5853 '975 m consideration of the manumission of 
255,290 slaves, while 55,780, consisting of children, 
old people, and runaways, were excluded from the 
compensation. 

The Imperial Act was bitterly opposed by the 
Island Assembly, who threatened to transfer their 
allegiance to the United States, or to assert their 
independence after the manner of their continental 
neighbor. Allowance must be made for the gentle- 
men who constituted the Assembly, who foresaw in 
emancipation nothing but ruin and disaster, both to 
themselves and to the colony at large. This unfor- 
tunately proved to be the case in all the British 
Colonies except Barbados. In that island all the 
land was under cultivation. There was not any 
wild land to squat on. The negro had to work or 
starve. The largest amount of sugar ever raised 
in Barbados in any year previously to the freeing 
of the slaves was 32,500 hogsheads of sugar and 
9,305 puncheons of molasses; in 1889 the product 
was 65,268 hogsheads of sugar and 44,818 punch- 
eons of molasses. Demerara and Trinidad are the 
only other colonies that have regained their former 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 85 

prestige ; and this was brought about by substituting 
East Indian, Chinese, and Portuguese labor in place 
of the negro, who refused to work when free. These 
people have shown a great desire to work hard, save 
money, and with their savings become shopkeepers, 
in which many of them have amassed considerable 
fortunes, and ultimately become merchants and own- 
ers of vessels ; while the indolent negro looks on in 
wonder at the rapid strides and comforts of life en- 
joyed by strangers who have been only a few years 
among them, and who commenced life under far 
less advantageous circumstances. 

Idleness is the curse of the negro. The men, as 
a rule, never work unless necessity compels them 
to do so ; and the women and children do all the 
drudgery. Of the sloth of the negro there is un- 
fortunately but too abundant evidence in the deso- 
lation of whole districts containing the richest lands, 
and in abandoned estates with their costly works 
in ruins, and not a sign of human industry as far 
as the eye can reach. Nowhere else on the island 
is this more apparent than in the parish of Port- 
land. Port Antonio had been abandoned by the 
whites, the great sugar estates were rapidly being 
overgrown by the forests, the negroes had no em- 
ployment, and were relapsing into a savage state 
like that of their ancestors. Then the Boston Fruit 
Company came upon the scene, and soon restored 
a large portion of the country to its former pros- 
perity. The principal drawback and difficulty was 
with the negro, — how to make him work. The 
company paid him more than twice as much as the 



1 86 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

Barbadian negro received, and offered him steady 
employment; but money was no object to him. 
He could obtain all the food he wanted without 
work, and would work only when he felt like it. 
The company did the same as the Trinidad and 
Demerara planters, — they sent to India for coolies ; 
and it is only by using the coolie as a check on the 
negro that any work can be got out of the latter. 

When the negro was freed he was encouraged to 
look upon liberty as license ; and fifty years of such 
teaching has vastly prejudiced his advance in civ- 
ilization, and at the same time ruined his country. 
The great mistake made both in the British West 
Indies and the United States was the granting un- 
limited freedom and equality to the negro before 
he was taught to understand the responsibilities 
attached to such privileges. It has been demon- 
strated in the United States that it is impossible for 
the negro to exist in a community of Anglo-Saxons 
on terms of political and social equality. The 
greatest problem to-day in that country is what is 
to be the future of the negro race in the Southern 
States. 

The population of Jamaica, according to the cen- 
sus of 1891, was 639,491, an increase of 56,681 
since 188 1, and 133,337 m excess of the popula- 
tion of 187 1. The population as to races was 
divided as follows : whites 14,692, colored 121,955, 
black 488,624, East Indian 10,116, Chinese 481, 
not stated 3,623. It is considered that many that 
were registered as white contained more or less 
colored blood, and that it can be safely said that 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 87 

there is scarcely more than one per cent of the 
present population of Jamaica that is pure white. 
This shows a surprising increase in the black and 
colored population during the past hundred years, 
and a corresponding decrease in the whites. In 
1 791 the whites numbered 30,000, and the negroes 
and colored 261,400. Therefore at that time there 
was one white to every nine black and colored, 
and now there is one white to every one hundred. 
In 1673 the whites numbered 7,768, and the ne- 
groes 9,504. 

It will be seen from the foregoing that there has 
been a constant decrease of the white population 
in comparison with the negro during the past two 
hundred years. The same can be said of all the 
British West India islands, and also of some of the 
Southern States, where the negroes are increasing 
much faster than the whites, some States growing 
blacker every year and some whiter, it depending 
on the climatic conditions of same. It has been 
clearly proved during the past four hundred years, 
since the discovery of America, that the tropical 
section of it, within the Gulf States on the north 
and the Argentine Republic on the south, is not a 
white man's country, and never will be. He can 
exist there only as master. Every attempt made 
by white colonists to settle the country and employ 
white labor has failed. The white man cannot do 
field-labor in the tropics and live, especially the 
Anglo-Saxon branch of the Caucasian race. The 
Latin races do best, especially the Portuguese. 
From the foregoing it must not be supposed that the 



1 88 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

whites cannot live within the tropics and reach an 
advanced age. There are as fine specimens of the 
Anglo-Saxon race to be found in the British West 
Indies as are to be seen in England, and they live 
to as old an age ; but they and their ancestors have 
been masters ; laborious field-work has not been 
their lot; it has been done for them by the negroes. 
On the other hand, the most miserable and degen- 
erated specimens of the Anglo-Saxon race to be 
found in the world are the Crackers of the South- 
ern States and the Redlegs of Barbados, descen- 
dants of the white laborers sent to those colonies 
some two hundred years ago. The English in 
Jamaica, as well as the other British West India 
islands, are melting away. Families who have 
been for generations on the soil are selling their es- 
tates and are going off, some to England, and more 
to the United States. This has been going on for 
generations. Many places in the United States 
were named Jamaica by these emigrants, such as 
Jamaica on Long Island, and Jamaica Plain in 
Boston. 

In the tropics the white man labors under so many 
disadvantages from the climate that he can only 
exist there in the position of master. Even then 
he must recruit his family by constant infusion of 
new blood from home or else doom it to extinction. 
The negro, on the contrary, suffers from no climatic 
disadvantages. He can perform field and other 
heavy work without suffering in health, and he does 
not require an infusion of fresh blood to make him 
thrive and multiply. The two races are thus placed 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 89 

in a position which gives a preponderating advan- 
tage to the negro. The only advantage in the white 
man's favor is his intellect. 

It is a great mistake for the people in England or 
the United States to think that the negro and white 
can ever mix. The two races cannot intermarry 
without harm to both. The half-breeds cease to be 
prolific, and they become prolific only in the event 
of their marrying blacker or whiter. The tendency 
throughout animate and inanimate nature is always 
to revert back to the original stock, if nature is 
allowed to take its own course. 

There is no doubt that the negro has multiplied 
with great rapidity when he has been protected un- 
der English rule. He cannot quarrel and wage war 
as he was wont to do in Africa or Hayti, and when 
famine arises the government feeds him ; even dis- 
ease is not allowed to sweep him away as formerly. 

Any account of the negroes of Jamaica would be 
incomplete without allusion to the practice of obeah, 
or voodooism, among them. This is a relic of sav- 
agery, being a species of fetish worship practised 
by the negroes throughout the West Indies and 
America, which neither the efforts of the govern- 
ment, which strictly forbids its practice, nor the in- 
fluence of the church, which has labored faithfully 
against it, have been able to keep in check. It is 
only a few years since that negroes were caught 
practising it in Boston, the centre of civilization on 
the western continent. 

The obeah-man is usually an old and crafty 
negro, whose forbidding aspect and hoary head, 



190 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

together with skill in plants of the medical and 
poisonous species, have qualified him for success- 
ful imposition on the weak and credulous. The 
negroes in general revere, consult, and fear them. 
To these oracles they resort with the most implicit 
faith upon all occasions, whether for the cure of 
disorders, the obtaining of revenge for injuries 
or insults, or the prediction of future events. The 
deluded negroes who thoroughly believe in their 
supernatural powers become willing accomplices 
in concealing them from the knowledge and dis- 
covery of the white people ; the stoutest among 
them tremble at the very sight of the ragged 
bundle, the coffin, or the bottle, which are stuck 
in the thatch, hung over the door, or placed on 
the doorstep, containing parrots' feathers, blood, 
grave-yard dirt, coffin-nails, egg-shells, etc. 

When the negro goes out in the morning and 
finds Obi set for Mm, near his door or in the path 
which leads to it, he gives himself up for lost ; his 
terrible imagination begins to work, and he believes 
himself the devoted victim of an invisible and irre- 
sistible agency. Sleep, appetite, and cheerfulness 
forsake him, his strength decays, his disturbed im- 
agination is haunted without respite, and gradually 
he sinks into the grave. Cases occurred during 
slavery times when plantations were almost depop- 
ulated by the obeah-man, and so cruel and horrible 
were some of its rites that the obeah-men were 
hanged if caught. At present flogging is the pun- 
ishment prescribed for them. The cannibalism of 
Hayti, of which we hear occasional reports, is in 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 191 

connection with obeah, the victim being sacrificed 
to their deity or spirit. 

In view of these facts, we may well wonder 
whether the negro race is really capable of any 
great enlightenment. The elements of barbarism 
firmly fixed in the negro nature by ages of usage 
in his native Africa are not easily got rid of, and 
civilization in its true sense is not a thing to be 
attained at a bound. It is worthy of remark that 
while the negroes sometimes attain education, posi- 
tion, and wealth, they are not so apt to do so 
as those of mixed blood. It is the blood of the 
Caucasian which gives brains, ambition, and the 
instincts of civilization. 

In 1840 a plan for the introduction of coolie 
labor was carried into effect. Twenty thousand 
East Indians were thus added to the working pop- 
ulation of the island. It was expected that the 
coolie would stand between the planter and the in- 
convenience and loss which he experienced from 
the intermittent industry of the negro. The Indian 
was a check upon that spirit of independence 
which, however commendable in theory, has some- 
times been a bane practically. The introduction of 
the coolie, like other acts immediately following the 
abolition of African slavery, was simply an expe- 
dient, a bridge by which the governing class tried 
to cross that slough of despond by which Jamaican 
industries were surrounded. It has proved to have 
been an act of statesmanship, having resulted in the 
permanent accomplishment of several of the results 
sought for. These people, with their straight black 



192 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

hair, clean-cut features, and lithe, slender figures, 
are a striking contrast to the negroes, whom they 
heartily despise, and with whom they persistently 
decline to unite in marriage. Many of the men 
are good looking, and some of the children and 
girls are decidedly pretty. 

They are an industrious people ; their principal 
aim and object being to advance in the world and 
accumulate property, the very reverse of the negro 
in this respect, as in all others. Though not so 
strong physically as the negro, they do more work, 
are more reliable, and give such satisfaction as ser- 
vants and laborers that fresh importations are con- 
stantly being made. As there are not so many 
women brought with them from India as formerly, 
the women are occasionally tempted into infidelities, 
which would oftener occur if the lapse from virtue 
was not so fearfully avenged ; for the East Indian 
will, with one sweep of his machete, behead his 
wife if she proves unfaithful to him. Such a case 
as this is unknown among the negro population, as 
very few of them are bound by the marriage tie ; in 
fact, the negro woman does not care to be married, 
for in that case the husband obliges her to work for 
him while he remains in idleness ; but if she is not 
married, then he has to work to support the family, 
and treat her kindly, or she will leave him. This 
is shown by the statistics, about seventy-five per 
cent of the births in the colony being illegitimate. 

They are many of them skilled artisans, and the 
visitor may see the necklace or other ornament 
fashioned from the handful of silver pieces he fur- 




COOLIE BELLE, 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 193 

nishes for the purpose while he waits. Intellec- 
tually it is unnecessary to say where the coolie 
stands in comparison to the negro. He belongs to 
the Aryan race the same as the white man. His 
civilization is one of the oldest in the world, and 
though of a lower caste in that race, yet is far 
above the African in development. It is amusing 
to notice that the negro looks down on the coolie 
as upon an inferior. A visit to a coolie settlement 
is very interesting ; here the habits of the natives 
of India may be studied as well as on the banks of 
the Ganges or Indus. They keep the distinctions as 
regards caste, and the costumes for age and rank, 
that obtain in Calcutta. The coolie woman is seen 
gorgeously apparelled, her small head decorated 
with a gaudy handkerchief and ornaments of sil- 
ver, her lithe body wrapped in party-colored gar- 
ments, broad bracelets of silver and anklets of the 
same upon her bare arms and brown ankles. In 
the main, the laboring classes of Jamaica are law- 
abiding and submissive. The colonial government 
recognizes the necessity of keeping all these diverse 
elements in absolute subjection, and its strong arm 
is felt throughout the island. Every country village 
has its constabulary ; and the uniformed policemen 
are seen in the rural districts as in the cities and 
towns, and in spite of the vast number of semi- 
civilized inhabitants, life and property are as safe 
in Jamaica as in England or the United States ; in 
fact, this can be said of any place over which the 
Union Jack waves. 



194 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 



GOVERNMENT. 



After the abolition of slavery, there arose a series 
of political disputes and disagreements between the 
Executive and the Legislature, accompanied with 
a bitterness which could not fail to have a disas- 
trous result. This culminated in the rebellion of 
1865, and brought to a close a representative insti- 
tution which had existed for two hundred and two 
years, and which exercised powers in some re- 
spects in excess of those of the British House of 
Commons itself. Mr. George William Gordon was 
born a slave, and, the son of his master, had become 
a man of mark in Jamaica, had acquired property, 
and lived in a beautiful residence, — Cherry Gar- 
den ; he was actively engaged in politics, was an 
elected member of the Legislature, and led the 
opposition to the government. By virtue of his 
possessions he belonged to a class usually conser- 
vative, but was considered by the whites to be an 
agitator. 

In 1865, while Mr. Edward John Eyre was 
governor, the storm which had long been gather- 
ing burst upon the island. A severe drought had 
greatly impoverished the people, while the Ameri- 
can Civil War had greatly increased the price of 
imported breadstuff s. Gordon and other agitators 
availed themselves of the opportunity to unsettle 
and excite the minds of the ignorant. Gordon 
presided at a public meeting at which seditious 
speeches were made, inciting and urging the people 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 95 

of African descent to assert themselves, and form 
themselves into societies, hold public meetings, and 
set forth their grievances. 

Whatever the purpose of Gordon and his party 
might have been, it was soon lost sight of in the 
disastrous and unlooked-for result. The people to 
whom he appealed, being ignorant, knew nothing 
of argument or appeals, or the niceties of legal 
redress. They were abundantly gifted with savage 
passions, and they were proficient in the use of the 
machete. There were certain individuals whom 
they greatly hated, and a class whose interests 
were all opposed to their own. They would ap- 
peal to the machete. That seemed reasonable to 
them. 

On the nth of October the custos and vestry of 
the Parish of St. Thomas met at the Court House 
at Morant Bay, where they were attended by a 
protecting body of volunteers. Some hundreds of 
negroes, armed with machetes, bayonets, sticks, and 
muskets, entered the square in front of the Court 
House and declared for "war." They were all 
black, and the cry was ' ' color for color, blood for 
blood." They attacked the custos and magistrates 
while they were holding their meeting for the trans- 
action of business ; it resulted in the murder of 
nearly all the vestry, the slaughter of all the officers 
and nearly all the private men of the volunteer 
command, and the perpetuation of the most atrocious 
barbarities by the negroes. The fight was one of 
almost unexampled ferocity and horror. The pil- 
lage, arson, and bloodshed which followed it filled 



196 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

the island with terror. The terrible massacre of 
the total white population of Hayti is ever present 
in the minds of the whites of Jamaica as a frightful 
evidence of what the negroes are capable of when 
roused to frenzy. The French planters had done 
nothing particularly cruel to deserve their animosity, 
and were as well regarded by their slaves as ever 
the whites had been in the English islands. Yet 
in a fever of political excitement, and as a reward 
for the decree of the Paris Revolutionary Govern- 
ment which declared them free, they allowed their 
liberty, which was to have elevated them to the 
white man's. level, to turn them into devils, and to 
massacre every white man, woman, and child on 
the island, and afterwards the colored population. 
This feeling must be taken into consideration in 
considering the events that followed the outbreak, 
and the terrible vengeance wreaked by the whites on 
the negroes. When Governor Eyre was informed 
of the massacre he took prompt measures to sup- 
press the rebellion. He declared the district where 
the outbreak occurred under martial law ; all the 
white men were enrolled, armed, and formed into 
companies ; and these extemporized regiments, too 
few in number to be merciful, saw safety only in 
striking terror into the negroes. Their houses and 
huts were burned, and, aided by the Maroons, who 
joined the whites, they were hunted down. Hun- 
dreds of them were tried by drum-head court-mar- 
tial, and summarily hanged or flogged. 

Governor Eyre had Gordon arrested at his resi- 
dence, Cherry Garden, and sent him into the dis- 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 97 

trict which was under martial law, tried him by- 
military court, and hanged him. 

The government in England at first thanked 
their representative for having saved the island; 
but a clamor, aroused by the abolitionists, caused 
them to send out a commission to examine into the 
cause of the outbreak and the means used to sup- 
press it. Their report was as follows : — 

" (1) That punishments inflicted by martial law 
were excessive; (2) that the punishment of death 
was unnecessarily frequent; (3) that the floggings 
were reckless and at Bath positively barbarous ; 
(4) that the burning of one thousand houses was 
wanton and cruel." The commission also reported 
that the " disturbances had their immediate origin 
in a planned resistance to lawful authority, and 
that a principal object of the disturbers of order 
was the obtaining of land free from the payment 
of rent." 

Mr. Eyre was recalled, but no one in Jamaica 
of respectable position and property but concurred 
in expressing the deepest gratitude to Mr. Eyre 
and the authorities for the able and decided meas- 
ures they adopted ; for there is not the least doubt 
that if the governor had hesitated to do his duty 
for forty-eight hours, the whole island would have 
been in insurrection, and the 360,000 negroes 
would have combined to ' ' drive the whites into the 
sea," as threatened in the House of Assembly. 
When Governor Eyre left Jamaica he carried with 
him the affection and esteem of the whole European 
population, who considered that he acted nobly, 



• 198 STARK'S ILLUSTRATED 

ably, and zealously, and that in crushing the re- 
bellion he saved them from destruction. Previous 
to Governor Eyre's recall, the Legislature, acting 
under his influence and advice, passed an Act abol- 
ishing the constitution, and virtually tendering the 
government to the Crown, thus making the island 
a crown colony. The Act empowered her Majesty 
the Queen " to create and constitute a government 
for the island in such form and with such powers 
as her Majesty may deem best fitting." This Act, 
indorsed by the Crown, was the final surrender of 
those liberties for which Jamaica in other days 
had hotly contended, a representative government 
which had, in a history of two hundred and two 
years, been almost republican in its powers and 
pretensions. 

After being a crown colony for nearly twenty 
years, a new constitution was granted by an order 
of the Queen in council, dated 19th May, 1884, in 
which it was declared that the Legislative Council 
of Jamaica should consist of the Governor, the Se- 
nior Military Officer for the time being in com- 
mand of her Majesty's regular troops in Jamaica, 
the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney General, and 
the Director of Public Works ; not more than five 
members nominated by the Crown, and nine mem- 
bers elected by taxpayers of twenty shillings and 
upwards. The island was, by this order in council, 
divided into nine electoral districts, and a member 
was apportioned to each. With the view of grant- 
ing to the elected members substantial power and 
responsibility in legislation, it was provided by the 



JAMAICA GUIDE. 1 99 

order in Council that where six elected members 
were agreed on a question affecting finance, the 
ex-officio and nominated members should not be 
required to vote ; and where the nine elected mem- 
bers were agreed on any other question, the same 
rule should be observed with regard to the vote of 
the ex-officio and nominated members. This con- 
cession to the elective element was increased by 
the appointment, on the inauguration of the new 
system of government, of only two nominated mem- 
bers, whereby a majority of three elected members 
was practically given in the Legislative Council. 

The Governor is President of the Legislative 
Council, and six members and the President consti 
tute a quorum for the despatch of business. Any 
member may propose any question for debate un- 
less it involves the raising or expending of revenue, 
this latter power being vested in the Governor alone. 

There is also a Privy Council, consisting of the 
Governor, the Senior Military Officer, the Colonial 
Secretary, the Attorney General, and such other 
persons, not exceeding eight in number, as may 
be appointed by the Queen. 

There is a Parochial Board in each parish, con- 
sisting of the person representing the electoral dis- 
trict in the Legislative Council, the Custos of the 
Parish, and from thirteen to eighteen persons elected 
by the taxpayers, who are qualified to vote at 
elections for the Legislative Council. In Kingston 
the Chairman of the Board is styled Mayor, and 
the members are styled Councillors. The Parochial 
Boards manages all the affairs of the parish. 



INDEX. 



Abbey Green, 8l. 

Abolition of Slavery, 32, 152, 

153, 184. 
Acklin Island, 4. 
Age of Gold, 31. 
Agriculture and Climate, 152. 
Albemarle, Duke of, Governor, 25. 
Albion Sugar Plantation, 94, 95. 
Allan and Anchor Steamship 

Line, 42. 
Alligators, 117. 
Annotto Bay, 70, 137, 140. 
Apostles' Battery, 109. 
Appleton, 116, 117. 
Arawaks, 180. 
Atlas Steamship Line, 2, 42. 
Attack on Trelawney Town, 169. 

Bahama Islands, 5. 

Bahama Grass, 157. 

Baker, Captain, 98. 

Balaclava, 116. 

Balcarrier, Earl of, Governor, 

173. 

Banana Plantations, 142, 147, 

149. 
Banana Growing, 154. 
Banana Shipping, 145. 
Baths, Medicinal, 99, 100, 163. 
Bath, 99, 151. 



Bath of St. Thomas the Apostle, 
99, 100. 

Beeston, Sir William, Governor, 
27, 28. 

Bell of the Church of Port Royal, 
63, 64. 

Benbow, Admiral, 28, 52. 

Bird Rock Lighthouse, 4. 

Black River, 117. 

Blake, Sir Henry Arthur, Gov- 
ernor, 39. 

Bloodhounds, 129, 1 77- 

Blue Mountain Range, 148. 

Blue Mountain Peak, 73, 80-82. 

Blue Mountains, 6, 100. 

" Blue Water," 101. 

Boarding Houses and Hotels, 55- 

58- 
Boating and Yachting, 56, 57. 
Bog Walk, 108, 131. 
Bolt Hill, 138. 
Boston Fruit Company Steamers, 

42, 43- 
Boston Fruit Co., 2, 76, 98, 101, 

102, 146. 
Botanical Gardens, 72, 73. 
Bowden, 98. 

Brayne, Col. William, 183. 
Breadnut Valley, 117. 
Brooks Hotel, 115. 



202 



INDEX. 



Buccaneers, 21-25, 85, 86. 

Buff Bay, 141. 

Busby Park Sugar Plantation, 109. 

Cable Communication, 38. 

Cane River, 92-95. 

Cape Maysi, 5. 

Capital, 50. 

Caribbean Steamship Line, 42. 

Caribs, 180. 

Carlisle, Earl of, Governor, 25. 

Carriage and Cab Fares, 48, 49. 

Cascades, Roaring River, 133- 

135- 

Castle Island, 4. 

Castleton, 73. 

Castleton Garden, 69, 70, 73. 

Cathedral, Spanish Town, 106. 

Cattle, 119, 157. 

Cattle introduced, 34. 

Cave Hall Pen, 136. 

Caverns, 136. 

Caymanas Sugar Plantation, 109. 

Charlemont, 132. 

Charter, 39. 

Cherry Garden, 194. 

Churches, 54, 86-88, 122. 

Cinchona planting, 35. 

Citrus Fruit, 156. 

Civil marriages made legal, 38. 

Climate, 152, 159-164. 

Clubs, 59. 

Cockpit Country, 117. 

Cocoanut growing, 155. 

Cocoanut Palms, 84. 

Cocoanut plantations, 142, 147. 

Coffee growing, 113, 153. 

Colonial Bank, 52. 

Colonial Secretary's Office, 52. 

Columbus, 3, 7-15. 



Columbus, Diego, 16. 

Columbus, Monument, 3. 

Communication and Transporta- 
tion, 41—49. 

Conquered and settled by the Eng- 
lish, 16-30. 

Constabulary and Police, 193. 

Constant Springs Hotel, 71. 

Constant Springs, 70, 71. 

Constitution, New, 198. 

Coolies, Characteristics, etc., 192, 

193- 
Coolie immigration, 34. 
Coolie Labor, 191. 
Coolie Settlement, 151. 
Coolie Woman, 47. 
Cost of Living, 59. 
Court House, 52. 
Cromwell, 19-20. 
Crooked Island, 4. 
Crown Colony, 198. 
Cuba, 5. 

Cuban Colony, 74. 
Cudjoe, Maroon leader, 167. 
Cumberland Pen, 47. 
" Cuna Cuna " Pass, 100. 

Discovery and Settlement by the 
Spaniards, 7-15. 

Disestablishment Church of Eng- 
land, 35. 

"Doctor," 53. 

D'Oyley, Colonel, 19-20. 

Dr. McCatty's Sanitarium, 129. 

Dry Harbor, 136. 

Dutch Settlers, 25. 

Earthquakes, 26-29, 89. 
Easington, 95. 
Eastern Portland, 101. 



INDEX. 



203 



Edwards, Sir Bryan, 52. 

Electric Lights, 52. 

Elgin, Lord, Governor, 34. 

Ellis, Hon. Evelyn, 119. 

Emancipation Act, 184. 

Emigration, 188. 

English Settlers, 183. 

English University Scholarship, 
38. 

Escobar, Diego de, 14. 

Esquimel, Pedro de, 181. 

Ewarton, 131. 

Ewing's Sugar Plantation, 109. 

Exhibition products and manufac- 
tures, 40. 

Expedition against Havana, 29. 

Exports, 52. 

Eyre, John Edward, Governor, 34, 
35. 194. 

Fairy Hill Bay, 101. 

Fares, 41-44. 

Fern Gully, 133. 

Ferns, 93, 133. 

First General Assembly, 21. 

Flying Fish, 3. 

Food-Supply and prices, 59, 159. 

Fort Augustus, 109. 

Fort Charlotte, 129. 

Fort Haldane, 137. 

Fortune Island, 4. 

Free-Trade, 33. 

Freedom of the Slaves, 32, 184. 

Fruits, 59. 

Fruit shipment, 35, 98, 146. 

Fustic, 116. 

Gallows Point, 85. 
Gamble, Major General, Govern- 
or, 39. 



"Garden of Jamaica," 131. 
Gas, introduction of, 37. 
Geological Survey, 65. 
Golden Vale, 149, 150. 
Golden Grove, 98. 
Gordon, George William, 194. 
Gordon Town, 77. 
Government and Inhabitants, 180- 

199. 
Governor's Residence, 69. 
Grant, Sir Peter, Governor, 35. 
Grape Fruit, 156. 
Grass, 157. 
Gray's Charity, 137. 
Gray, Sir William, Governor, 

36. 
Great Highway, 69, 70. 
Great River Valley, 119. 
Great Salt Pond, 109. 
Green Bay, 109. 
Green Vale, 116. 
Guava Ridge, 81. 
Guinea Grass, 157. 

Halfway Tree, 70-72. 
Harrison Hotel, 129. 
Harrison, Robert Munroe, 70. 
Hayti, 5. 
Herbarium, 66. 
Highest Point, 81. 
Highgate, 140. 

High School and University Col- 
lege, 72. 
Holland Bay, 98. 
Hope Bay, 142. 
Hope Gardens, 72. 
Hope River, 77. 
Hope Road, 72. 
Horses, 157. 
Hotel Tariff, 57, 58. 



204 



INDEX. 



Hotels and Boarding-Houses, 55- 
58, 71,76, 109, 115, "9> 129, 
132, 148. 

How to Reach, 2. 

Hunter, Robert, Major-General, 
28. 

Ice manufacture, 52- 

Illegitimacy, 192. 

Imports, 52, 158. 

Import duties, 158. 

Inchequin, Earl of, Governor, 26. 

Indians, 7, 186. 

Inhabitants and Government, 

180-199. 
Innis' Bay, 101. 
Institute of Jamaica, 60. 
Insurrection of the Slaves, 29-34. 
Ipswich, 117. 
Irish settlers, 183. 
Iron Cage, 66-68. 
Irrigation, 36. 
Island Head, 97. 

Jackson, Colonel, 17. 

Jamaica Club, 59. 

Jamaica Railway Company, 44— 

48. 
Jewish Synagogue, 54. 
Juan de Bolas, 21. 
Jubilee Market, 58, 59. 
"Judgment Cliff," 95. 
Junction Road, 73. 

Kendal, 1 15. 

King's House, 69, 71, 72. 
Kingston, 27, 50-59. 
Kingston Fires, 38, 51. 
Kingston Harbor, 50, 83. 
Kingston, places of interest in 
vicinity of, 69—76. 



Kingston Station, 46. 
Knowls, Governor, 29. 

Labor and laborers, 159. 

Labor problem, 185. 

Lawes, Sir Nicholas, Governor, 

70. 
Legislative Council, 198. 
Lemons, 156. 

Leyland Steamship Line, 42. 
Library and Museum, 60-65. 
Lighthouses, 4, 5. 
Liguanea Plain, 69. 
Lilly, Sir Christian, 27. 
Limes, 156. 
Live stock, 156. 
Loyalists, American, 4. 
Lucea, 128. 
Lyttleton, Sir Charles, Governor, 

21, 29. 

Maces, The, 65. 

Mail, 41. 

Mail Coaches, 48. 

Manchester Hills, 1 15. 

Manchester, William, Duke of, 

Governor, 32. 
Manchioneal, 1 00-102. 
Mandeville, 111-120. 
Mango-Trees, 141. 
Mangroves, 84. 
Marine Gardens, 56, 57. 
Markets, 58, 59. 
Market Days, 70. 
Maroons, 21, 117, 129, 151, 165- 

179, 182. 
Maroon Settlement, 100. 
Maroons, Transportation of, 178, 

179. 
Maroons, Treaty with, 170. 



INDEX. 



205 



Marriage Law, 38. 

Martial Law, 30, 32. 

May Pen, in. 

Medicinal Springs and Baths, 99, 

100, 163. 
Mendez, Diego, 10. 
Metcalfe, Sir Charles, Governor, 

33> 34- 

Metcalfe, Sir Charles, statue, 51. 

Military, 69, 77, 79. 

Moddiford, Sir Thomas, Gover- 
nor, 21, 24. 

Moneague, 131. 

Montego Bay, 121-130. 

Montpelier, 111-120. 

Montpelier Hotel, 119. 

Moore Town, 100. 

Morant Bay, 96-98. 

Morant River, 97. 

Morgan, Sir Edward, Deputy 
Governor, 21. 

Morgan, Sir Henry, 22, 24. 

Mount Diabolo, 131. 

Mules, 159. 

Museum and Library, 60-65. 

Musgrave, Earl of, Governor, 32, 

37- 
Myrtle Bank Hotel, 55, 56. 

Nanny Town, 97. 

Negroes, 185. 

Negro Characteristics, 74> 185. 

Negro Outbreaks, 29, 30, 32, 34, 
96, 97, 194. 

Negro Soldiers, 69. 

Negro Women, 74. 

Newcastle, 77. 

Newspapers, English and Ameri- 
can, 59. 

Norman, Sir Henry, So. 



Norman, Sir Henry Wylie, Gov- 
ernor, 39. 

Obeah, 189. 
Obi, 166. 
Ocho Rios, 133. 
Old Harbor, 109. 
Oracabessa, 7. 
Oracabessa Bay, 137. 
Oranges, 113, 156. 
Orange Bay, 142. 
Orchids, 74, 75, 93, 132. 
Oxford River, 116. 
Oxford Valley, 1 16. 

Palisades, 50, 84. 

Palmer, Mrs., 122-128. 

Palmer Monument, 122. 

Parade Ground, 50. 

Parochial Board, 199. 

Passage Fort, 109. 

Payne's Hotels, 129. 

Payne, Miss Emily, Hotel, 129. 

Penn, Admiral, 18, 19. 

Pens, 47, in, 136. 

Philips, Samuel, 55. 

Picaroons, 28. 

Pickford and Black's West India 

Steamship Line, 44. 
Pirates, 83-86. 
Pimento grass, 157- 
Police and Constabulary, 193. 
Polygamy, 166. 
Population, 186, 187. 
Porras, Francisco and Diego de, 

11. 
Porus, ill. 
Port Morant, 97. 
Port Royal, 83-90. 
Portrait Gallery, 60. 



206 



INDEX. 



Port Antonio, 101, 102 139- 

Port Henderson, 109. 
Port Maria, 137. 
Postal Union, 37. 
Presbyterian Church, 54. 
Priestman's River, 101. 
Prince Line, 42. 
Privy Council, 199. 

Race Problem, 187-189. 

Railroad Tunnels, 139. 

Railway Opened, 34. 

Railways, 38, 39, 44-46, 139. 

Rainfall, 161. 

Rebellion of 1865, 194. 

Recent History, 31-40. 

Record Office, 103. 

Reed, George Washington, 107. 

Reformatory, 73, 74. 

Removal of Seat of Government, 
36. 

Residences, 53> 

Richmond, 140. 

Rio Cobre Hotel, 109. 

Rio Cobre River, 108. 

Rio Grande River, 142, 149. 

Rio Nuevo, 137. 

Roaring River, 133. 

Rodney, Admiral, 103-106. 

Rodney's Lookout, 109. 

Rodney's Statue, 30. 

Roman Catholic Church, 54. 

Rose Hall, 123. 

Rowe, Sir Joshua, 52. 

Royal African Company, 25. 

Royal Jamaica Yacht Club, 59. 

Royal Mail Company, 41. 

Royal Mail Steam Packet Com- 
pany, 41. 



Runaway Bay, 136. 
Rushworth, Lieutenant-Governor, 
37- 

Saint Thomas ye Vale, 132. 

St. Ann, 131. 

St. Ann's Bay, 135. 

St. Margaret's Bay, 142.' 

Sanitarium, Dr. McCatty's, 129. 

Santa Gloria, 7. 

Saragossa Sea, 3. 

Schools, free, 150. 

Seat of Government, 36. 

Second Maroon Outbreak, 171- 

177. 
Sedjwick, Major, Governor, 20. 
Seven Miles, 92. 
"Sevilla d'Oro," 136. 
Sevilla Nueva, 16. 
Shaddocks, 156. 
Shark Papers, 60-63. 
Sheep, 158. 

Shirley, Sir Anthony, 17. 
Slaves, 19, 25, 31-33, 165, 182, 

183. 
Slaves, Emancipation of, 32, 152, 

153, 184. 
Slave Insurrections, 29-34. 
Slave Trading, 31, 32. 
Sligo, Lord, Governor, 33. 
Sloane, Sir Hans, 25. 
Society of Agriculture and Com- 
merce, 59. 
Spanish Town, 109, 103-110. 
Spanish Town "Temple," 103. 
Steamship Companies, 2, 42, 43. 
Stock Yards, 47. 
Stony Hill, 70, 73. 
Street cars, establishment of, at 

Kingston, 36. 



INDEX. 



207 



Sugar Plantations, 109. 
" Surinam Quarters," 119. 

Telegraphs, 38. 

Temperature, 75, 79, 80, 81, 82. 

Theatres, 52, 59. 

Theatre Royal, 52. 

"Three-fingered Jack's" Cave, 

93- 

Tichfield Hotel, 148. 

Tram-cars, 49. 

Transportation and Communica- 
tion, 41, 49. 

Travelling in Jamaica, 44, 48. 

Trelawney, Governor, 170. 

Tweedie Trading Company, 44. 

University College and High 

School, 72. 
Union Plain, 116. 

Vale Guanaboa, 109. 
Vaughn, Lord, 25. 
Vegetables, 156. 
Venables, Colonel, 18, 19. 
Victoria Institute, 38. 
Victoria Market, 58, 59. 



Voodooism, 189. 
Voyage, The, 1-6. 

Wag Water Loch, 74. 

Wag Water River, 51, 70. 

Wages, 59. 

War between Spain and England, 

29. 
Washing clothes, 143. 
Water Supply, 51. 
Watlings Island, 3. 
Wesleyan Chapel, 54- 
West Indian Chemical Works, 109. 
West India and Pacific Steamship 

Company, 42. 
Westmoreland, 119. 
"White Horses," 97. 
Whitfield Hall, 81. 
Wilberforce, 32. 
Williamsfield, hi. 
Windsor, Lord, Governor, 20. 
Windward Road, 92. 

Yacht Clubs, 59. 

Yachting and Boating, 56, 57. 

Yallahs, 96. 

Yallahs River, 81, 95, 96. 



^ \, >> 



CONDUCTED ON THE AMERICAN PLAN. 



^^,his Hotel is the largest and most elegant in the 
city of Kingston, and its grounds are well laid out and 
filled with beautiful tropical plants. From its position on 
the shore it commands extensive views of the Harbor and 
Port Royal in the distance, with cool delightful breezes 
blowing from off the water constantly during the hottest 
part of the day. 

It is provided with all modern conveniences, Electric 
Lights and Bells in all the rooms, Fresh Water Baths, 
Billiard Tables, Fine Bar, Reading Room, Ball Room, 
Livery and other conveniences. 

The tables are supplied with all the delicacies of the 
season, the cooking is the best on the island and the 
attendance excellent. 

For terms, circulars and any further information address 

ISIDORE DePASS, 

Myrtle Bank, Kingston, Jamaica. 




Streadwick's Marine Gardens Hotel, 

KINGSTON. 
THE BRIGHTON OF JAMAICA. 



Streadwick's Hill Gardens Hotel, 

SAINT ANDREW, 

THE CATSKILLS OF JAMAICA. 



HOTELS IN DETACHED COTTAGES, 
WITH CENTRAL DINING AND BILLIARD ROOM, ETC. 



The Detached Cottage Plan for a tropical climate is admitted 
THE BEST for pure air in bedrooms, privacy and quiet. Both 
these Hotels are run on the American and European Plan. 



Hotel Rio Cobre, 

SPANISH TOWN, JAMAICA. 

TTHE HOTEL RIO COBRE offers to visitors to the 

Island a spacious, cool, and agreeable resort, where 

ladies and gentlemen can be comfortably accommodated. 

It stands on sixteen acres of its own land, on the 
bank of the Rio Cobre, and belongs to a company estab- 
lished under the Hotel Law of 1890. 

The Hotel is noted for the excellence of its cuisine 
and good attendance. Its motto has been : " Tranquil and 
comfortable, with Creole fare and fruit.'' The front 
verandas are twelve feet wide, and are always open to 
the fresh air and the delightful sea breezes which come 
throughout the day over four or five miles of dry, healthy 
plains. 

All communications and telegrams addressed to 

"RIO COBRE," Jamaica, 

will receive immediate attention. 



MOMTpiLIEP^ HOTEL. 

3^* C^* t^* t£^* 

'TThis Hotel is situated in the parish of St. James 
near Montego Bay. It has lately been completed, 
and it is fitted up in the most luxurious style. Position 
of the hotel is unequalled, being situated on the top of 
a mount with an unobstructed view, and open to the 
breezes from all quarters. 

This Hotel has at present no more than sixteen 
bedrooms as the proprietor has preferred to provide 
for the perfect comfort of a limited number of guests, 
rather than put up a large number in comparative dis- 
comfort. 

For terms and for further particulars address 

The Manager, 

MONTPILIER HOTEL, 

JAMAICA. 



©J fie Moneague Jfofef. 



411 HIS HOTEL was built by a few gentlemen of the 
^-^ parish of St. Ann, who availed themselves of the 
Hotel Law of 1890, and formed a company. 

The situation, climate, scenery, internal arrangements, 
cuisine and management of this Hotel combine to make 
it one of the most delightful Resorts for Tourists in the 
West Indies. 

Visitors never need find time hang heavily on their 
hands ; the many charming drives to places of world wide 
interest in the neighborhood, the Tennis Lawn and 
Golf Link, afford varied opportunities of passing the hours 
of the day pleasantly out doors, while a fine Piano and 
Billiard Table afford similar opportunities to those pre- 
ferring to remain indoors. 

The Board of Directors is composed of gentlemen 
residing in the District, who make it their aim, by close 
and frequent supervision, to ensure the comfort and enjoy- 
ment of visitors. 

There are many beautiful drives in the district, the 
Roaring River Falls, the famous Gully Road, Ocho Rios 
and other places noted for their picturesque beauty are 
within easy reach. Vehicles can be had at all times at 
the Moneague, The Hotel is nine miles from the Rail- 
way Terminus at Ewarton. 

The Tariff approved by the Governor and Privy 
Council, in accordance with the Hotel Laws, is to be 
found on page 57 of this work. 

For further information please apply to the Secretary, 
to whom all orders for apartments, conveyances, etc., 
should be addressed. 

A. W. SUTHERLAND, Secretary. 



Brooks' Hotel, Mandeville, 

JSj 06/ &eei above Sea jCevel, Ttyanchesier, 
JAMAICA. 



>^ITUATED in the Hills of Manchester, among its 
w famous Orange Groves and Coffee Plantations, in one 
of the finest climates in the world. 

Temperature from 50 to 80 degrees. The table is 
supplied with fresh food and meat, a variety of fruit, the 
Orange, Grape Fruit, Shaddock, Sapodillas and all tropi- 
cal fruits that can be procured. 

Beautiful drives through the plateau district of Man- 
chester offer to the tourist an infinite variety of tropical 
hill scenery. In the vicinity are Golf Links, a Golf Club, 
a Tennis Club and Court, Billiards at the Manchester 
Club and at the Hotel Billiard Room. 

The Hotel is five miles from Williamsfield Railway 
Station, and may be reached by the Hotel Coach, which 
meets every train, or by carriage which may be specially 
ordered from the extensive Livery in connection with the 
Hotel. 

For terms, circulars and any other information, address 

A. S. LINDO, Lessee, 

(Uefegrapfi eJ\c]cjrej&<s>, Jiroo&S>' Manc|e>5>iffe. 



BOSTON FRUIT CO. 

Titchfield * Hotel *Cottages, 

PORT ANTONIO, JAMAICA. 



RECENTLY ENLARGED. 



Rooms in Main Building or Cottages as pre- 
ferred. 

The combined Ocean and Mountain Scenery is 
unsurpassed in the Island. 

Delicacies of the Season are received by Ameri= 
can Fruit Steamers each week. 

Only Pure Distilled Water used for Drinking 
purposes. 



EXCELLENT SEA BATHING. 



For terms apply to the Manager, Titchfield Hotel. 
Care of Boston Fruit Company, Port Antonio. 



KINGSTON, JAMAICA. 



PINNOCK & CO., LIMITED, 

WATERLOO HOUSE. 



ESTABLISHED 1842. 



Drapery, Millinery, Boots and Shoes, Gents' and 
Youths' complete outfitting, Fancy Work, Crockery, 
Glass, Grocery, Provision and Furnishing Depart= 
ments. 



WATERL00 HQaSE, 

RESTAURANT. 



For the convenience of customers a well appointed 
Restaurant has been established where an excellent cui- 
sine, good attendance and every comfort will be found. 
There is also a private eating room set apart for ladies 
besides the general restaurant, a Reading Room, Bar and 
Lavatories. Waterloo House is most conveniently situ- 
ated for tourists and others visiting the Island, being in 
the centre of the commercial part of the city. 

All cars pass the doors. 

N. B, There is a lift on the premises for the convey- 
ance of visitors to the several departments. 



AMALGA SOAP- 



Is the Only Patented Soap in 
Jamaica sold in 3 descriptions, 

BROWN ALMOND SCENTED, 

WHITE 

BLUE MOTTLED 

for Laundry Purposes is un- 
excelled. For prices apply to 

ANDREW DELISSER, 

149=151 Harbor Street, . . KINGSTON, JAM. 
LADY MUSCRAVE'S 

WOMEN'S # SELF-HELP ^ SOCIETY, 

No. 8 CHURCH ST., KINGSTON, JAM. 
Depository for all sorts of 

NATIVE CURIOSITIES, 
PRESERVES, 

PICKLES, Etc., Etc. 

Orders for Photographic Groups Attended To. 



TELEPHONE No. 205. 



EDEN'S LIVERY STABLES, 




43 JAMES STREET, Cor. of Charles St., 

KINGSTON, JAMAICA. 



A CHOICE SELECTION OF 

New and Stylish Buggies for Excursions. 

...AT... 
VERY MODERATE TERMS. 




Aaron M. Sollas, 

Church, Commercial 
and Show Printer, 

110 TOWER ST., 

COR. CHURCH STREET. 
KINGSTON, JAMAICA.W. I. 



Agent Theatre Royal, 

KINGSTON. 



PRINTER OF "Journal 
of the Jamaica Agricul- 
tural Society," "Wink- 
ler's Musical Monthly." 



Correspondence Solicited. 



THE MODERN DRUG AND GROCERY STORE, 

30*4 <5>° 126 S. E. Comer of King and Tower Streets, 
KINGSTON, JAMAICA. 



T. J. CURPHEY, 

DISPENSING CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 

Manufacturer of Concentrated Essence of Jamaica Ginger, 
Jamaica Tooth Elixir, Cherry Tooth Paste, Jamaica Pearl 
Dentifrice, Phosphoric Rat Poison, and a number of other 
specialties. Large stock always of Drugs, Chemicals, Patent 
Medicines, Toilet Requisites, Confectioneries, Groceries, Teas 
a specialty, Garden Seeds, Biscuits and Wines of every des- 
cription. 

Prescriptions and Family Recipes Accurately Prepared. 

System of business: Marking all goods in plain figures, 
giving the best attention to customers, and selling only reli- 
able goods. Terms Liberal. 




very many pleasure and health seekers would do well to give their 
attention to the following list of preparations, which will in every 
way gratify their desires to give and take. 

By giving to make happy. 

In taking and obtaining every palate's satisfaction. 

Uurtle ^Preparations. 

Turtle Fat, Turtle Tablets, 

DriedTurtle, Turtle Eggs, 

Turtle Bonne Bouche. 



Turtle Soups, 
Turtle Diamonds, 
Turtle Liver Oil, 

Jamaica {Pickles. 

Mountain Cabbage, Chatney, Calabash, 

Chippolata, Mangoes, Poor Man's Sauce, 

Cherry Peppers in Wine Sauce. 

ca ^Preserves. 



S- 



Ginger, 

Guava Dolce, 

Mangoes, 

Oranges and Dimes, 

Pineapples, 

Cocoa Plums, 

Naseberries, 

Dace Bark Puffs, 
Damp Shades, 
Polish Turtles, 



Guava Jelly, 

Melon, 

Mangolima, 

Dimes, 

Tamarinds, 

Rose Apples, 

Curios. 

Fern Albums, 
Doyleys, 



Guavas in Syrup, 

Stewed Guavas, 

Orange 

Cashews, 

Figs, 

Cherimelias, 

Granadilla. 

Whips, 
Centre Pieces, 
Porcupine Fish. 



LEVIEN & SHERLOCK, 

68 HARBOUR STREET, KINGSTON, JAMAICA. 



Dr. Alex. J. McCatty's Sanitarium, 

flONTEQO BAY. 




Dr. Alex. J. McCatty's Sanitarium for 
invalids is pleasantly situated on high land 
near the shore overlooking the Bay. From its 
vantage, above heat or the night dampness of 
the lower lands, and its excellent bathing 
facilities, together with the attendance of Dr. 
McCatty, it is truly an ideal place for in- 
valids. Address, 

Dr. Alex. J. McCatty, 

Montego Bay, Jamaica. 



EMILY PAYNE'S BOARDING HOUSE 

MONTEGO BAY. 



This well-known house is the oldest and 
best known boarding and lodging house in 
Montego Bay. It has been patronized during 
the past twenty years by the best people in the 
Island, Governors, Judges, Generals and other 
prominent people. The rates are 8 shillings 
per day or ^i.io per week. 

Reduction made to parties or families. 

For further information apply to 

# EMILY PAYNE, ^ 

MONTEGO BAY. 



HARRISON'S HOTEL, 

MONTEGO BAY, JAMAICA. 



This house is pleasantly situated on Union 
street, with large comfortable rooms and accom- 
modation for twenty-five guests. 

Spring Water baths with shower attach- 
ments, sea bathing and boating, excellent drives 
and fine riding roads, especially for Bicyclists. 

Terms 6 and 8 shillings per day or £1.10 
and ,£2.00 per week. Special arrangements 
made for families. 

REFERENCES : 

Judge W. H. Hyndman Jones, 

L. E. Rattigan, 

Captain W. Peploe Forwood, 

A. Stanley Hill, 

H. S. Mount-Castle. 



S. V. DURAN & CO. 



Manufacturers of 



Cigars and Ggarettes*^^ 

Sole Agents for W. D. & H. O. WILLS' 

Celebrated Tobaccos and Cigarettes 



1 01 & 103 HARBOUR ST., 

KINGSTON, JAMAICA. 



A. DUPERLY & SONS, 

Portrait & Landscape Photographers 

(over fifty yfars in run profession.) 
93 KING STREET, KINGSTON, JAMAICA. 

Two doors below the Park and opposite the Parish Church. 
TELEPHONE NUMBER 230. 



High class work with the best possible finish at very reason- 
able rates. See price list. 

VIEWS OF THE ISLAND, 

The most striking and varied collection. Photographs 
taken daily from 9 A. M. 

Branch places where views can be obtained: J. H. Milke, 
Jeweller, 12 King Street; Romero & Murray, Stationers, 120 
Harbour Street; Brooks' Hotel, Mandeville. 



THE "COLOSSEUM/' 

115 HARBOUR STREET, 

KINGSTON, JAMAICA. 



W* H. JOHNSON & CO-, 

GENERAL HOUSE FURNISHERS, 

The UapS^st, 



Cheapest 



arid Best 



stock of HOUSE FURNISHING requisites 
in Jamaica. For Neat, Artistic and Up-to- 
date goods — the "Colosseum" leads. 

We gained first prize at the Kingston Agri- 
cultural Show for Native Made Furniture. 

Send for price lists post free. 



W. H. JOHNSON & CO., 

THE COLOSSEUM, 
US Harbour Street, Kingston. 



W. H. JOHNSON & CO., 

General Hardware Merchants, 

KINGSTON, JAMAICA. 



Agents for the Royal Exchange Fire Insurance Corporation. 



Dealers in Paints, Oils, Engine Stores, 
Leather, Saddlery, Etc. 



All our importations are paid for in cash, which 
enables us to sell cheap, and purchasers are thereby 
benefited. 

We invite all to inspect our large and varied 
assortment of 

in all its branches. 



Compare our prices before going elsewhere. 



In conjunction with the "Colosseum," our House 
Furnishing Establishment, 115 Harbour Street, we are 
in a position to supply all the requisites of a home, 

W. H. JOHNSON & CO., 

23 KING AND 115 HARBOUR STREETS, 

KINGSTON, JAMAICA. 



o 

w 
w 
> 

tr 1 

> 

K 

H 
C 




THE ATLAS LINE OF MAIL STEAMERS. 



SERVICE BETWEEN SEW YORK, JAMAICA, EAYTI, REPUBLIC OF COLOMBIA 
AND COSTA RICA, AM REPUBLIC OF NICARAG-UA. 



The Atlas Line of Mail Steamers' fleet comprises nine iron 
and steel steamers, built by the most celebrated ship-builders in Scot- 
land; they are constructed in water-tight compartments, the greatest 
care and attention having been bestowed upon the construction of the 
compartments and water-tight bulkheads. They have also been fitted up 
especially for the conveyance of passengers ; the accommodations are of 
the best description, and the steamers are furnished with every requi- 
site for making their trips safely and agreeably. The following is a list 
of the Company's fleet: 

S.S. "ALTAI," Capt. J W. Morris, 3,690 tons 

S.S. "ALLEGHANY," Capt H. Low, 3,494 tons 

S.S. '-ADIRONDACK," Capt, J. W. Sansom, 3,177 tons 

S.S. "ALENE,-' Capt. E J. Seiders, 3,239 tons 

S.S. "ATHOS," Capt. W. Owen, 1.957 tons 

S.S. "ANDES," Capt. T. M. Macknight, 1,711 tons 

S S. "ALPS," Capt. W. Long, 1,735 tons 

S.S. "ADULA," Capt. W. Walker, 773 tons. 



SERVICE. KINGSTON TO NEW YORK— A steamer leaves 
Kingston for New York weekly, taking freight, mails and passengers. 

SERVICE. NEW YORK TO KINGSTON.— A steamer leaves 
New York every week, on Saturday, for Kingston direct. 

Cargo for the United Kingdom and the Continent is carried by this 
Company on through Bills of Lading. 

The "Adula," the Coastal Contract Steamer, has been built specially 
for the Island Service. Her passenger accommodation is forward of the 
engines, and is on the upper deck. Every attention has been paid to the 
comfort of passengers. She is fitted throughout with electric lights. Her 
average speed is eleven knots. 

The "Adula" leaves Kingston every alternate Tuesday at 7 a.m., on 
the Eastern route, and every alternate Tuesday on the Western route at 
7 a.m , calling at fourteen oiitports. 

The Coastal Steamer makes a direct connection with the company's 
main line steamers from New York. 

Messrs. LEECH, HARRISON & FORWOOD, 

Managers, Liverpool. 
W. PEPLOE FORWOOD, General Ag't, Jamaica. 



THB ATLAS S. S^ COMPANY, (Limited.) 



This company's slip-dock in Kingston is capable of lifting vessels up 
to 1,100 tons. The cradle is 230 feet long The print represents H.M.S. 
"Rambler" which vessel was hauled up and repaired in 1896, to the en- 
tire satisfaction of the Commodore of the Station Connected with the* 
dock is a complete diving plant; and an experienced diver, late of 
H. M 's Navy, is on the staff. For further particulars, apply to 
W. PEPLOE FORWOOD, Superintendent, Atlas Steamship Com- 
pany's Slip-dock, Kingston, Jamaica. 



a 




%MmKfflBG£mBm 



UEVUAND <& LINE, 

BOSTON AND LIVERPOOL. 

Sailing from Boston every Wednesday, from Pier 6, 
Boston & Albany Docks, East Boston. 

These steamers are new vessels, among the largest crossing, and 
have a limited number of staterooms for first-cabin passengers on the 
top or bridge deck, thus ensuring the best of ventilation. Electric Lights 
and all modern conveniences. No steerage carried. "Winter passage 
rates, $45 and up. For sailings, cabin plans, etc., apply to the Com- 
pany's Passenger Office, as below. 

If you are going abroad for abicycle trip, send 10c. in stamps for 
our little publication called, "BICYCLING NOTES FOB TOUEISTS 
ABEOAD " 

F. O. HOUGHTON & CO., GenT Agents, 

115 State Street, (cor. Broad), . . . . BOSTON. 

TELEPHONE 1359. 

—THE— 

ADAMS ^ CABLE ^ CODEX. 



The most Complete Publication of its kind issued for 
CIRCULATION AMONG TRAVELLERS, and contains over 
200 pages of sentences especially adapted to the general 
requirements of those who travel for either business, health 
or pleasure, or for commercial purposes. PRICE : In Cloth, 
50 cents. In Paper, 25 Cents. By mail, 4 cents extra for 
postage. Published by 

F. O. HOUGHTON & CO., 

European Passenger Agents, 
115 State St., Cor. Broad, . . Boston, Mass. 



Stark's Guides 



TO WEST INDIES AND BERMUDA, 

Jamaica, Bahamas, Trinidad, Barbadoes and Caribbee 
Islands. British Guiana and Bermuda. 
PRICE, $J.50 EACH. 



Also. 




Views of Jamaica.^ 

The largest and most varied 
selection in the city. 



Seneral Tjourists' JXgrent 



^^INFORMATION FREE.^^ 

It is to my interest that you enjoy your stay in our island. 
Save time and money by calling directly you land at.... 

Surge Gardner's, 

BOOKSELLER, j» STATIONER J> AND 
GENERAL AGENT, 

110 HARBOUR STREET, 

KINGSTON, JAMAICA, 



FLORIDA. 



CUBA. 



NOVA SCOTIA. 



PLANT 
SYSTEM 



e^ 



RAILWAYS. 



Savannah. Florida & Western. 
Charleston & Savannah. 
Alabama Midland. 
Brunswick & Western. 
Florida Southern. 
Sanford and St. Petersburg. 
Silver Springs, Oeala & Gulf. 



St. John's & Lake Eustis. 
Ashley River. 

Green Pond, Walterboro & Branch - 
ville. 

Abbeville Southern. 
Tain pa & Thonotosassa. 
Winston & Bone Valley. 



HOTELS. 

Tampa Bay Hotel, Tampa, Fla. The Oeala House, Ocala, Florida. 

Port Tampa Inn, Port Tampa, Fla. The Belleview, Belleair, Florida. 
Seminole, Winter Park, Florida. The Kissimmee, Kissimmee, Fla. 

PuntaGorda Hotel, PuntaGorda, Fla. Fort Myers Hotel, Fort Myers, Fla. 



STEAHSHIP LINES. 



Port Tampa, Key West & Havana. 
Port Tampa & Mobile. 
Port Tampa & Island of Jamaica. 
Port Tampa & Manatee River. 



Boston & Halifax. 

Boston, Cape Breton & Prince 

Edward Island. 
Chattahoochee River. 



H. B. PLANT, 

President, 

New York. 

I. J. FAKMSWOHTH, Eastern Pass, kit, 

261 Broadway, 

Mew York. 



B. W. WRENN, 

Passenger Traffic Manager, 
Savannah, Ga. 

J. A. FLANDERS, H. E. Pass. Agt., 

290 Washington St., 

Boston, Mass. 



THE 

Trinidad Line of Steamers 



Fortnightly Service between New York and 

Trinidad, calling at Grenada coming and 

going, by the fine A \ Steamers " Grenada " 

and "Irrawaddy" 

These Steamers have exceptional passenger 
accommodation, being specially built and 
fitted for trading in the Tropics. 

Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, B.W. I., promises 
to become a favorite resort for tourists or 
those requiring to escape the rigors of the 
American winter. A new and comfortable 
hotel has been built, and special arrangements 
have been made with proprietors for passen- 
gers by this line. 

For further information as to Fares and Dates of Sailing 
apply to 

Martin Dean & Co., Grenada 
The Trinidad Shipping & Trading Co., Ltd. 

PORT=OF=SPAIN, TRINIDAD 

OR 

The Trinidad Shipping & Trading Co., Ltd. 

29 BROADWAY, NEW YORK 



^IPICKFORD & BLAGK'S,^ 

West Indian Steamship Lines. 



WINDWARD ISLAND SERVICE. 

The A i Iron Steamships Taymouth Castle 
and Duart Castle, 2000 tons each, with supe- 
rior passenger accommodations, leave Halifax, 
N. S., every 4 weeks, 

Via BERMUDA, 

for Demerara and return, calling both ways at 
Bermuda, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Antigua, Mont- 
serrat, Guadaloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. 
Lucia, Barbados and Trinidad. 

31 days from Bermuda to Demerara and return. 



JAMAICA SERVICE. 

The well-known A 1 Iron Steamship "Alpha," 
with extra passenger accommodations, leaves 
Halifax, N. S., on the 15th of each month for 
Turks Island and Kingston, Jamaica, calling at 
Bermuda going and returning. 

14 days Bermuda to Jamaica and Return. 

Either of the above routes make a very pleasant excur- 
sion for tourists wintering at Bermuda. 

For further particulars apply to 

PICKFORD & BLACK, Halifax, N. S. 

W. T. JAMES, Bermuda. 

THOS. COOK & CO., 261 Broadway, N. Y. 



BY 

Steamers of the Boston Fruit Co. 

Carrying the U. S. Mail. 

C AILING from LONG WHARF, Boston, direct for 
PORT ANTONIO, Jamaica, weekly, from November 
to March, and semi-weekly from March to November. 

These Steamers are new and fitted with superior accommoda- 
tions for passengers. Cabins on main deck and located forward 
of engines, thus securing light and air free from any dis- 
agreeable odors. 

Distance Boston to Port Antonio, 1,600 miles, 

which is covered in five days. 

The disagreeable sensations produced on passengers by 
passing near Hatteras incident to some other routes is avoided 
by taking the Steamers of this Line. 

At PORT ANTONIO, excellent communications by land or 
water can be had with all parts of the island. 

Full particulars furnished by application to 

A. W. PRESTON, Man'gr Boston Division, Boston. 

OR 

L. D. BAKER, Pres. and Man'gr, Tropical Division, 
PORT ANTONIO, JAMAICA. 



Stark's Guide=Books 

TO 

Bermuda and West Indies. 

Fully Illustrated with Photo-prints and Maps. 



Price, $1.50 each; postpaid, $1.60. 



BERMUDA, JAMAICA, BAHAMAS, BRITISH 

GUIANA, TRINIDAD, BARBAD0E5 

AND CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 

The most complete and authentic Guide-Books ever 
published on the British West Indies. They contain a 
description of everything relating to those colonies thai 
would be of interest to tourists and residents, respecting 
their history, inhabitants, climate, agriculture, geology, 
government, and resources. 

FOR SALE BY 

JAMES H. STARK, Publisher, 

36 Equitable Building, Boston, U.S.A., 

SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY, Limited, 
London, 

and by Booksellers throughout the British 
West Indies. 



Stark's Illustrated Bermuda Suide, 

Two hundred pages, profusely illustrated with Maps and Photo- 
Prints, 12 mo. $1.60, post-paid. 
"A most exhaustive book on Bermuda Mr. J. H. Stark spent several seasons 
in Bermuda for the expi - ess purpose of collecting material for a history and guide 
book, and nothing is omitted or overlooked which the invalid or traveller for 
pleasure will wish to know." — Boston Transcript. 



"The Illustrated Bermuda Guide, written by Mr James H. Stark, of this city, 
is the latest book on the Bermuda Islands. It contains twenty-four artistic photo- 
prints, besides several handy maps of the islands, which will be of much con- 
venience to the tourist who seeks rest and pleasure in the miniature'continent, 
700 miles from New York. 

The text o£ the volume treats of the history, inhabitants, climate, agriculture, 
geology, government and military and naval establishments of Bermuda, de- 
scribing in an entertaining fashion the most noticeable features of the island, 
~nd furnishing a brief sketch of life in Bermuda from the original settlement 
until to-day." — Boston Herald 

Stark's History and Guide 

I?J* e BAHAMA ISLANDS. 

Fully illustrated with Maps, Photo-Prints and Wood Cuts, 

12 mo., $1.60, post-paid. 

" I have read your Book on the Bahamas with great care and interest, and 

can confidently speak of it as the most trustworthy account of the Colony that 

has yet been published." „ 

Sir Ambrose Shea, 

Governor of the Bahamas. 

" Your book has exceeded my expectations; you have filled up a gap in the 
history of the English Empire, especially in the history of our colonies, that 
deserve the encomiums of every Englishman, aye, and of every American who 
reads your book. The colonists of the Bahamas owe you a debt that they 
can never fully repay." _ „ _ 

J G. C. Camplejohn, 

Judge oj the Court of Common Pleas, Bahamas. 

STARK'S KIST0RY AND GUIDE TO BARBADOS 

And the CARIBBEE ISLANDS. 

Two hundred and twenty pages profusely illustrated with 
Maps and Photo-Prints, 12 mo., $1.60, post-paid. 
Mr. James H. Stark visited these islands and derived his information at 
first hand. He has given a brief history of their discovery and settlement, and 
also an account of the manners and customs of the inhabitants, which is supe- 
rior to that of any other work on the subject. The book is richly supplied with 
half-tone illustrations, which give a capital idea of the buildings, the localities, 
and the people throughout these tropical islands. 

The information is practical, and the volume will be highly prized by those 
who have interests in these islands or have occasion to visit them. Mr. Stark 
has done much to lift them into notoriety by his careful, accurate and instructive 
work. — Boston Herald. 

For Sale by 

James H. Stark, Publisher, 36 Equitable Building, Boston. 

Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Limited, London. 



JUL 1 18 1900 




cTr^Mrpc 



